Cheating. Stalking. Disturbing surprises. Dating is a seriously dangerous hobby. These Redditors shared their worst experiences in the game called love. And their stories are proof that when relationships go wrong, they go really, really wrong.
1. A Name Idea
My sister was unwittingly the other woman—and she found out in the worst way possible. It was when she went on vacation with the guy and his wife called his phone. The wife informed her that he was married with four kids. That was bad enough, but to add to the creep factor, his wife had just recently given birth and he named the child after our younger sister!
2. You Can’t Choose Your Family
I dated a guy, Joe, for three months before he left me to go back to his ex, Kim. Right after we broke up, I found out I was pregnant and now I’m at 24 weeks. I let him know and he was ecstatic. Turns out his girlfriend had fertility issues and would likely never be able to get pregnant naturally and he has always wanted to be a father. Getting back together was out of the question for both of us, so he’s still with his girlfriend.
At the initial appointment, we found out I was having twins. According to Joe, when he told Kim she had a mental breakdown about her infertility and wanted to talk to me. I met them at their house and Kim stated that she wanted to be involved in my pregnancy because she would eventually be the children’s stepmother. Then it took an enormous nosedive.
She started telling me that I needed to do a home birth, that I needed to formula feed so that they could have the babies half of the week, that she wanted one boy and one girl, and that she wanted the kid to call her Mama since they would be calling me Mommy. I shut her down and said I would make the best choices for my children and my body, then left.
Kim continued to be overbearing, texting me every day about my eating habits, exercise habits, and complaining about how her job wouldn’t let her take maternity leave. At the virtual genetics counseling appointment, she attended instead of Joe and took over the whole meeting trying to talk about her family history…which wasn’t even relevant.
When it came time for my 20-week scan, they allowed me one guest and Joe suggested I take Kim instead of him, which I refused to do. Joe did end up coming and he found out the gender because I wanted to keep it a surprise for me so we could throw a gender reveal party. I put a pregnancy announcement on my social media and then Kim put up an announcement saying they were expecting twins “the non-traditional way,” and how blessed she was.
I was irritated but I kept my mouth shut. Then came the last straw. Kim threw a gender reveal party and posted it on social media. I wasn’t even invited. She also announced that she’s having a baby shower. I commented on her posts and told her to stop treating me like a surrogate, that the kids weren’t hers, and that Joe didn’t have any claim or custody of the kids until they are born.
I then called Joe and reiterated all of this and stated that I would not be seeing either of them until we went to family court and that my mother would be my birthing partner. He and Kim and some of her friends and family are saying I’m a jerk, and her mother even called and insisted I give her one of my babies like this is The Parent Trap.
3. Say What Now?
My father married my step-sister's mother when I was four and she was three. We've lived together most of our lives and are a family. She and I were extremely close. She developed cancer when she was 14 and was sick for about two years. She's since made a full recovery. During that time, my parents became understandably over-protective.
They also asked a lot of me. I quit my extracurriculars so I could get a job (the money went towards her medical bills) and so I could drive her to appointments. I didn't go to dances, and any fun activities I did needed to include her. I did almost all of this willingly, the exception being having to quit my high school volleyball team—I did throw a bit of a tantrum about that, but was swiftly punished.
Personally, I think having one emotional breakdown was pretty chill given the circumstances. Anyhow, I go to college and meet my ex, we'll call him Ben, when I'm a junior. We fall in love, blah blah blah. He and I move in together when we graduate, so we've been living together for about three years. We were serious until July. That’s when I walked into my bedroom at witnessed a horrific sight.
He was mid-act with my sister. I broke it off, tears were shed, he moved out, etc. My sister apologized at first but then backed off. I thought she was giving me space, but last week she called and asked if we could meet up. She told me that she and Ben were in love and were just telling me as a courtesy before they started posting photos online.
Distraught, I left her in the restaurant by herself and did not pay my portion of the bill. She later venmo'ed me asking for the money. She told my parents, who then called me to their house, telling me how disappointed in me they are for not supporting my sister's relationship with Ben. They brought up the fact that because she had cancer as a teenager, she never learned proper social etiquette, and has a hard time meeting people.
I don't buy this, in part because I've seen her socialize just fine and since we spent a good chunk of the time she was sick together, that would also mean that I should have bad social skills as well, by that logic. They then told me that if I don't accept my sister and Ben's relationship, they may have to go no contact with me. I reminded them that I'm also their daughter and they should understand my point of view, but they are adamant that this is about me being jealous of her.
For the record: I'm not jealous of her. I'm not upset that Ben picked her over me. I'm sad about the end of the relationship and do feel betrayed, but Lord knows that I don't want to be with a cheater. What I'm upset about is the fact that my sister chose Ben over me. That she slept with Ben knowing he and I were in a long-term, committed relationship, and continues to be with him knowing how much it hurts me.
Now no one in my immediate family is talking to me and I'm getting messages from aunts and uncles and cousins telling me that I'm a selfish witch.
4. Sweet As Lemons
I wouldn't really call it a relationship as it was only 3 dates, but I had met this girl at a wedding. She was a friend of a friend and we shared numbers that night. We texted for a while and then had a date. First date was probably a big red flag, but I shrugged it off. We had connected on Facebook and she noticed that she went to college with a girl I went to high school with.
No big deal, until I found out she had been messaging that girl and asking her all these questions about me in high school—who did I date, what car I drove, etc. Anyway, the third date rolls around. I wasn't really sure how long we would be together so typically I wouldn't have taken her to a really nice restaurant so early in a relationship, but I was in the mood for steak so I took her to a pretty high-end steakhouse.
I have never been more embarrassed by someone's behavior in public in my life, and I have a 6- and 3-year-old at home now. She sent 3 martinis back because they weren't made correctly while being extremely insulting and rude about it. She ordered a medium steak and then got annoyed because she insisted that she had ordered it medium-rare.
Both the waiter and I told her she had ordered medium. She was also making comments about what other women in the restaurant were wearing, and not very subtly. Then, despite me trying to get out of there without buying her dessert, she got a dessert menu and expected them to make her something that they didn't have on the menu.
They had cheesecake and she wanted chocolate cheesecake. So, another outburst at the staff. On the way out the door she made a point to stop and complain to someone loud enough that the other customers could hear. When we got into my car, I was so embarrassed I pretended I had left my credit card on the table so I could go back in.
I gave the waiter an extra twenty dollars and also apologized to him, telling him that I was dumping her as soon as I got to her place. He laughed and told me he wished he could be there to see it. I didn't really give her a chance to say much. She called me a loser and stormed off. I haven’t seen or heard from her since.
5. Too Much Info
My father talks in his sleep, and one night, my mom climbed into bed a bit later than him and he started mumbling another girl's name. My mom asked him if he was cheating on her, and in his sleep, he answered yes. The next day, my mom went to the girl's house, since she recognized the name, and asked her if it was true. The girl confirmed it.
That’s when my mom came up with a plan. While my dad was at work, mom packed up all his stuff and canceled their wedding plans. A few days after booting him out of the house, she found out she was about eight weeks pregnant with me. My father tried to claim she cheated on him and was trying to baby trap him, but the whole family laughed at him when I was born since I clearly resembled him.
20 years later, I get a phone call from my stepmom saying that she was leaving him as well. She'd given him time to tell everyone himself before she started making calls. She caught him receiving texts from some club dancer at 2 am. I blasted him for the disrespect he showed my mom, my stepmom, and his children. But the cherry on top?
I pointed out that the club dancer he was seeing was my age, which made him a predator. We haven't spoken to him in almost 10 years, and he's never met my kids; that is, his grandchildren. Even his parents have cut him out of their lives.
6. What, This Old Thing?
I had a 1967 Impala four-door that I bought in February 2019. A couple of months ago, I bought my first house that had a 2.5 car garage. I moved the car in and started tearing it down for a complete restoration. I had the body in one bay and the chassis in another, plus the whole garage filled with parts. About two months ago, my girlfriend came to live with me and the whole time, she has hated that car.
She wants to park in the garage but I have two acres of land with a lot of nice places to park under shady trees or even in the barn if it has to be inside. I tell her tough luck, it’s my house and it’s not like I can just throw it back together real quick. Anyways I was out of town for a couple of days on a business trip for the small local company I work for.
When I got back, my girlfriend was all smiles. Making me food all the time, doing all the chores, all that. I thought maybe she just was happy to have me home. But then I made a chilling realization. I didn’t see her car in its usual spot. I asked her where she parked so I could make sure I mow that area and keep it clean, and she said not to worry…because she parked in the garage.
I asked how and she told me to go check it out. Turns out that while I was gone she hired some people to come over and move everything related to that car, including the drivetrain, body, chassis, and all parts, and take it to the local dump/scrapyard. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I had spent over 11k on that car including new parts, services, and the car itself. I knew what I had to do.
I told her that I was going to be taking her to court for that. She brushed me off like I was being dramatic. I told her that it was done between us and to pack her things and leave. I admit I was really angry but I did end up getting a lawyer, and as I have all the receipts for all that money spent and I have her on my house's security cam footage letting the guys in and watching them take it all, I think I can win.
Her family and friends are absolutely blowing me up saying it’s just a stupid old piece of junk and that she cannot pay back all that money I spent, and that I should just let it go. But I have been putting all my time, effort, and money into that car for a year and a half now and goddarnit if I am not going to get justice for what she did.
7. The Cat’s Out Of The Bag
A month ago, my wife gave birth to a black baby girl. There’s one enormous problem with this. We're both white, so she was forced to admit that the child was a result of a one-night stand last year. I've started divorce proceedings, although we're still living together for now, partly for our two boys—aged 2 and 4, I've had paternity tests for them and they came back positive.
Naturally, I have no ill will towards the baby, but my family members do. What really worries me is that my two sons might pick up on these narratives. They're too young to really understand what's happening now, but I'm worried that as they grow to understand the situation that they might grow to resent their half-sister for "breaking up their parents' marriage."
8. Run Girl, Run
So, me and my husband Jake have been together for five years and married for three. We have recently started trying for a baby as we both felt like that was the next step in our life together, and three weeks ago I got a positive test back. We were really, really happy and told our families, and now my mom and mother-in-law want to throw a big baby shower for us.
It was just super good news all around. Well, two nights ago me and Jake were getting ready for bed when he reminds me to go through the house and make sure all the lights are off. Now he can be a little lazy at times, and it has become a nightly routine for me to make sure all the lights are off that he leaves on before we go to bed.
I wasn't feeling very well and asked if he could just do it since he wasn't doing anything and was literally standing by the door. His answer made me want to scream. He then tells me, "No, this is what is expected of you every night." I was hurt but I didn't want to fight with him so I just did it. When I came back, Jake goes on this very long and unprovoked rant saying things like "Just because you are pregnant does not mean anything will change," and "You are still expected to cook, clean, and do all the chores every day because how can you be expected to be a mother if you can't handle a little work."
He wasn't yelling or anything, he was talking to me quietly like I was two inches tall. I was shocked because I had never heard him say anything like this. The rant went on for about 30 minutes before I interjected and asked, "Well what do you plan on doing to help me with all of this?" He then got extremely defensive saying he works his butt off at his job to provide for me and what is going to be our future children.
For context, I don't work at the moment. My job was not paying enough to justify me going so I am a full-time college student. He ended by saying that it doesn't matter how I feel physically or mentally, it is a mother’s job to push through, and if he helped and babied me I wouldn't be a good mother. This is when I snapped. I got extremely upset and started yelling.
I said that "I wish I would've known this is how you felt before I got pregnant with your baby." There was a moment of silence before he started crying and he left for the night to stay at his mother’s house. He hasn't been back yet and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law have called me, berating me and saying I broke Jake’s heart with what I said and I need to apologize immediately, and until I do he isn't coming home.
9. Looking For You
Back in my "hound dog" days, I met a girl through an acquaintance. We seemed to hit it off. One day I had to work late, it being a last-minute notice kind of thing. When I did get home, later than normal naturally, I found out she had come by my apartment and scratched "where are you" with a knife right into my front door!
This was before cell phones, so she couldn't just call, but I grabbed an overnight bag and spent a few days at a buddy’s house. Luckily, I never saw her again.
10. Meeting The Husband
We had been talking through Skype at work over nonsense for a while. One day, the conversation started to get a little intimate and we eventually exchanged numbers to continue the conversation. While still at work, we were texting back and forth and she started telling me things that she could never say at work. A little into the conversation, she started flirting. I still didn’t think much of it—and then I got a major surprise. All of a sudden, we were full-out sending dirty texts to one another.
We spoke in explicit detail, going back and forth on the things we’d do to each other. At the end of the day, as we were trying to conclude things, she suggested that I walk her to her car. That was the beginning of an affair that would end up lasting for two years. We’d go to lunch, then find a spot. Once we got off of work, we'd find a spot again, then head home.
If we stayed late, we'd find a spot, and so on. Being a 22-year-old at the time, I thought this was a great deal. She was also 34 and beautiful, so I never questioned anything. We had this friends-with-benefits thing going on and it was great. Where it started getting weird was when she urged us to start getting hotel rooms.
I thought it was because of my roommates, but it turns out she was trying to keep our arrangement top secret as we worked directly with each other. I guess half of the fun was pretending there was nothing going on between us in front of other people. To me, this really seemed like a really hot fling and that was it. Well I was about to get another surprise. You could imagine my shock when she first mentioned her husband to me...
Still, we kept seeing each other as if nothing changed. One day, I asked her to watch my dog while I went out of town and she said sure. We were to meet up after I got off work as I stayed later than she did. I had my roommate bring my dog to work before leaving so we didn’t have to make an extra trip. We agreed to meet in the building, but I saw her car and decided to just walk to her instead.
The car was still running, so I assumed she was in it; but when I knocked on the window, this guy rolled it down from the passenger's side. I knew who he was before he started speaking. It didn’t help that he knew why I was there, either. She had left to go meet me in the lobby and while we waited for her to return, her husband and I had a conversation. He seemed like a really good guy.
I felt sick the entire time. She came up to the car and things got really awkward between me and her. I handed over my dog and we went on with our days. Things ended there, but we never officially ended it or really talked about it; it kind of just stopped. I eventually ended up leaving that job shortly after, but weirdly enough, she still reaches out from time to time even though it’s been years.
11. Family First
I’m 30 and my 12-year-old sister is living with me right now because mom and pops are vulnerable so it made more sense for me to care for my sister for the time being. She is a really great kid and to be honest, I feel in a lot of ways like she’s my own kid because my mom and dad don’t speak English, so I kind of had to raise my sister in ways that they couldn’t.
It’s hard to explain but I’m sure anyone with a secondary culture will get what I mean. My mom and dad are great parents, but having an English-speaking person to guide you through stuff when you live in an English-speaking country is invaluable, and my sister trusts me with stuff she won’t necessarily trust my parents with. Anyway, my girlfriend was FaceTiming me and my sister walked past in shorts and a T-shirt because it’s hot.
My girlfriend waited until my sister had left the area—but not the room—and made a face. Then she said something that made my blood boil. She said, “Maybe feed her less, her thighs are kinda chunky.” I saw red and told her to shut up and immediately ended the call. My sister is a bit chubby, but who says stuff like that about a 12-year-old girl?
Since then, literally. Everybody. I. Know. has been texting me that I’m a bad boyfriend and asking how can I disrespect my girlfriend like that. I am expecting an apology from HER but to my shock, everybody is expecting ME to apologize.
12. A Cliffhanger
My girlfriend is completely crazy but mostly in a good way. Spontaneous is an understatement. Sometimes she goes too far, but I love her for her crazy personality. I am more relaxed and we balance each other out. Two recent incidents really freaked me out though. I was driving on the highway with a lot of traffic. We were going maybe 40 mph.
She suddenly started tickling me and wouldn't stop when I yelled at her. I jammed on the brakes and someone almost hit us from behind. I asked her what the heck is wrong with her, but she just laughed about it and told me to chill. I said, "What would make you want to do that?" and she said "I don’t know, just felt like it."
Then last Saturday, I was hiking with her and I was standing near this steep cliff. I'm usually wary of her because you never know what she's going to do even though it's usually just a prank or something. I let my guard down and she went behind me and pushed me towards the cliff and I swear I almost fell off. She did it hard and I ended up right at the edge.
She was laughing so hard. I freaked out and started screaming at her and I may have been out of line but oh my God. She laughed about it at first but then she started crying and saying she was so sorry. The next day, she started texting me saying that she didn't mean any harm and she just "didn't know" that I would get so mad at her for doing that.
Am I crazy for even thinking about this? Is it possible she's just immature and if I get back with her she'll be different? I'm kind of lonely and I really love her, but this really made me rethink the situation because now I feel like she's legit crazy, not just fun crazy.
13. Throw Out The Whole Man
My husband John and I live in the US northeast, where I am from. John moved here for work several years ago from the deep south of the US where he grew up. He was raised with Christian holidays but never attended church. Coincidentally, shortly before everything hit, John’s parents AND his childhood best friend Dan and his wife decided to move here as well.
This past weekend was the first that we three couples have gathered together since any of us moved here; we had a “distanced picnic” at our house. John sat down two minutes after I did, as he was settling our kid into his pen in the yard with us. Dan and my father-in-law immediately started to “jokingly” rip on him for being “whipped” and doing “my” job of parenting our child while he was supposed to be “allowed” to just catch up with the two other men.
I was trying to politely deflect. Then it took a dark turn. It turned to how “mean” I was for not “fixing him a plate” and serving him before serving myself. (If I thought a certain dish would run out before he got to it, or if he had asked me to, I of course would have!) Dan and my father-in-law continued to brag about how their families "do it right" where they handle the “outside chores” while their wives handle the “inside chores.”
I think it’s important to note here that both currently live in rented condos that by their nature do not have “outdoor chores,” and both their wives have always worked full time, as I do. The whole day was kind of wrecked by that start, and I was frustrated when John left with Dan and my father-in-law to “go for a walk” and left me to do all the clean-up alone while also looking after our kid.
I expected John to apologize when he returned hours later, but instead, HE got mad at ME for “making him look bad” in front of his friend and dad. He brought up how “a traditional division of labor” is “a huge part of southern culture” and how I was being “disrespectful” to his background by “forcing northern culture” onto him and his family.
He said he’s been building up a lot of “resentment” in the past few months that I “make” him do half the chores and childcare, since in his “culture,” women do the chores and hands-on childcare, and men do the fun parenting, the discipline, mow the grass, and bring in the cars for oil changes when needed. I was stunned but honest and told him southern culture is garbage.
I lived in John's home state for eight years and I saw how "southern hospitality" is reserved only for those in your in-group. Deviate from the norm—be queer, non-Christian, a POC, a liberal, a non-traditional woman—and they turn on you viciously. Does every single person act like that always? No. But it's the culture.
John is livid and says his "culture" is just as valid as that of other global regions, religions, and ethnic groups, so I am the problem by not "compromising" with him here and incorporating aspects of his culture into our family life the way I would if his "culture" was "Islamic or Asian or whatnot."
14. A Different Tuna
We had been together for quite a while—about 6-8 months—and had been living together for at least 2 months when I decided to make tuna salad. I asked him how he liked it. He told me. I came back with two bowls, half the can made his way, and half the can made the way I liked it. He completely freaked out about the two different versions.
He said, “If we can’t agree on how to eat tuna, how will this ever work?!” I said that we don’t have to agree—we can both have it exactly the way we want and be happy. He vehemently disagreed. Then, I started thinking of all of his other controlling behavior and the inability to compromise. It wasn’t that day that we broke up, but it was definitely the day our relationship broke. The cheating didn’t help either.
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15. Unofficial Ex
I was seeing this girl named Sam for four months. I met her while she was working at a bar downtown. We were practically in a relationship, but never really had the “talk.” We went on a bunch of dates together, and she met my co-workers. One day, I was over at her place drinking with her and the roommates, and towards the end of the night, we decided to go into her room to do the deed.
Suddenly. Sam started acting really strange and quiet. I asked her if she wanted to stop and she said yes. Once we both calmed down, I asked her what was up. She was reluctant to tell me anything, so I decided to just give her some space and talk to her about it later. As I was walking to my car that was parked on the street, I ran into a dude at the end of her driveway. I’ll never forget what happened next.
He looked so familiar. I realized as he got closer that he was Sam’s ex-boyfriend who I’d seen pictures of before on her Instagram. As he walked by me, he threatened me, saying that if I ever came back to her place, he'd end my life. I was a bit of a cocky idiot back then, so I replied, "And why the heck shouldn’t I come back?”
He then told me that he was fully aware that I'd been seeing his girlfriend. I then said, “You guys have been broken up since last summer.” He just kept walking past me even as I said that, so I just left. Turns out, the “ex” was right and I’d been helping her cheat on her boyfriend for the last four months. But the most messed-up part?
Her roommates and friends were in on it the whole time. This woman wanted to meet my daughter too! What a close call.
16. Money Changes Everything
I recently won a bunch of money. I won’t say exactly how much but it’s in the millions. It makes me feel funny even typing this. It’s enough to change the life of myself and my family. My ex-wife is the mother of my two kids. She is an amazing woman and good to the bone. We divorced six years ago because I had an affair with my current partner.
I was in a low place in my life and I messed up. She was in incredible pain but—like a saint—she allowed me to still see our kids who mean the world to me, allowed our divorce to be as pain-free as possible despite the fact that I know she was hurting. She still is close with my parents. She is respectful to me although she refuses to talk to my girlfriend.
She was actually the first person I phoned after my mom and pops after I found out I won the lottery. She was pleased for me, joked that I could take the kids on a world round trip, and that was that. Nothing else. As soon as I won, I knew I wanted to give her a significant amount. I still love her. She’s the mother of my babies and I feel like this is some small tiny way I can show her that I’m not a complete screw-up.
She deserves to know that I care despite my mistakes. She also works an awful job in the public library which pays her peanuts. She would actually be able to pursue her hobbies this way. Give our kids a better life between us. I haven’t discussed this with my ex yet, but I have with my parents, who strongly agree, and my lawyer who was very surprised but on board. But there was one person who objected…
Long story short, when I told my girlfriend, she was livid. Screaming that I’m disrespecting her, accusing me of still being in love with my ex-wife. By the way, I’m not in love with her. We’ve both grown apart, but of course, I still love her for being an excellent co-parenting partner and mother to my kids. My girlfriend is threatening to break up with me, and to be honest I’m feeling incredibly relieved over the threats. I don’t plan on changing my plans.
17. Cat Fight
I can't believe I'm about to type this, but here we go. I've been dating my girlfriend for seven months. She's amazing and we're super compatible in a lot of ways. She is an outspoken vegan, and she made it clear at the start of our relationship that it was important to her that any potential partner had similar values.
Me, already being a pescatarian, had little difficulty transitioning to a fully plant-based diet. My girlfriend was proud of me for going vegan and everything seemed well. We became "the vegan couple" on our college campus. But a horrific problem has come up. See, then there is my cat, Mittens...I've had her for three years and I adore her.
She's such a sweet and cuddly cat. However, my girlfriend was always a little apprehensive around her, and she blamed it on not growing up around cats. After a while, we sort of made a tacit agreement to mostly hang out at her apartment instead of mine, so Mittens never really came up again in conversation. Until, well…
We began seriously looking at either buying a new apartment together or having one of us move in with the other. However, after a lot of talking and planning, my girlfriend sat me down and dropped a big reveal on me. She said that with this next phase of the relationship, she did not see a future with me unless I was willing to give away Mittens.
She said that she believed owning a cat is unconscionable for vegans, because they hunt mice and eat meat, and because the very act of owning a pet goes against vegan principles. I was stunned. I told her that I was absolutely not willing to give up Mittens, and Mitten had no choice but to eat meat, so I was reducing harm as much as possible by buying reputable brands of cat food.
Plenty of vegans own cats and think along those same lines. My girlfriend got mad and said, "How much flesh does your cat eat? How many animals perished to make all that food? Would you be okay with that being human flesh?" I got mad and told my girlfriend that I would have really appreciated her telling me about her cat opinions before we got serious.
She went on and on about cats hurting animals. I ended the conversation there. I was so angry that I left my girlfriend’s apartment, and I snuggled with Mittens when I got home! Although the mood soured a bit when my girlfriend sent me a link advocating for the extinction of domestic cats. Sigh.
I think it goes without saying that I am not going to get rid of my cat. However, it pains me to think that an otherwise wonderful relationship could be ending because of a difference in ideology. I don't even really understand where my girlfriend is coming from because like I said, a lot of vegans own cats and they make it work.
Now granted, cat ownership can be a controversial topic in vegan circles and I probably would not have gotten a cat if I had been vegan at the time, but I have Mittens now, and she deserves to eat. Yes, I've researched vegan cat food, but Mittens has some digestive issues and my vet strongly cautions against it. I've talked to some of my vegan and vegetarian friends, and they all think my girlfriend has lost her mind.
Some have suggested that it's not about Mittens and my girlfriend just wants an excuse to end it. So, we broke up, obviously. I would never, ever give up my cat Mittens. Many also said that this situation was about control, not veganism, and looking back, I do see a pattern of control on my girlfriend’s part. I was blind to it, I guess.
I called my girlfriend and said I was not willing to give up Mittens under any circumstances, and given the recent issues we'd had, and our incompatible views, I thought it was best that we parted ways. I said she deserved a partner that shared her values. She then asked if we were breaking up, I said yes. There was some anger on her end, but otherwise the situation actually went better than I expected.
18. The Cheese Stands Alone
I’m lactose intolerant. Every time I make tacos, my boyfriend always makes jokes about how I’m “disrespecting Mexican culture” by not having cheese in my tacos. I’ve told him multiple times I’m not going to give myself a bad time just to make him feel better about my tacos. He's not even Mexican, he's white. This came to a head last night when we were having tacos again.
I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back, I noticed my taco looked tampered with. I go to inspect, and lo and behold, there’s cheese buried underneath the other ingredients. I told my boyfriend he was a raging jerk and went to bed, leaving him to do the cleanup. I still haven’t spoken to him all morning, and he’s complaining about how I "forced" him to do the dishes because normally I do them.
19. Dancing The Night Away
I met a girl on Tinder, and we went for a coffee date. We shared some of the same music tastes, and she lets me know that one such performer is playing at a local club on Friday. I suggest we go together and do dinner before. When Friday comes, we do a late sushi dinner and head to this club around 10 for the aforementioned show.
The headliner, who we wanted to see, is supposed to go on around midnight. We get to the club, finally get to the bar and order drinks then head to the dance floor. She pounds the drink and says that she is getting another drink. She comes back a few minutes later with a new drink, gives me a kiss on the cheek, and wanders off to the dance floor.
I am not someone who is overly possessive and figure my wanting to be in the back to get a full visual and auditory experience is not her jam. I wasn't worried. Then, 20 minutes later, I looked across the dance floor—and my stomach dropped. I see her grinding on some dude. Now, mentally, I am already back at my car, but I want to see what happens when she makes eye contact with me. They start making out, and the guy notices me eyeballing them.
She then wanders off to get another drink, and the said guy comes up to me asking if I have a problem. I explain the situation, and he says something to the extent of, "Sucks, bro, she's with me now. Push off." I took his advice and did just that. So, I called up a friend and went to his house, and we played Catan till about 2.
Then my phone rings. It's 2:30am, and she is calling me asking where I went, since my car was clearly missing from the parking lot. I told her that I went home and she was on her own to find a ride. I said something like, "I bet that guy you were making out with could give you a ride," to which she responded with "which one." We kissed once and made out zero times. I laughed, hung up, and rolled for more bricks.
20. Party Foul
For reference, my brother Connor is 19, I am 26, and my (now ex) fiancé Hunter is 28. Also for reference, my brother was kicked out when he was 16 because our parents snooped through his phone and found out he was gay. Connor had a birthday last weekend, so he invited his friends over and they were all drinking and playing games.
Hunter and I were about to head out to let them have the place to themselves when Connor asked if we wanted to join them. I initially refused (bit too old to be playing drinking games), but he insisted and Hunter thought it’d be fun to act like college students again. We all got pretty tipsy and Connor had the idea of playing Never Have I Ever. A few rounds in, the statement “Never Have I Ever cheated before” came up.
Now’s a good time to mention that Hunter is staunchly against cheating. His ex-fiancé cheated on him and it emotionally wrecked him. And unfortunately, as a lot of dumb, immature 17-year-olds do, I cheated on my “boyfriend” of five months. It was a stupid mistake, he found out, and (understandably) ended things. This was almost a decade ago, I obviously learned my lesson, and look back at that time with shame.
I’ve never cheated since. Well, my brother knows about this so when I didn’t drink, he went, “What the heck? You know you cheated on (insert ex’s name). You have to drink to that!” My boyfriend paused, looked at me, looked at him, and just walked out of the room. I followed him and tried to talk to tell him that it was a stupid teenage mistake, but he wasn’t having any of it and ended things on the spot.
I’m numb. I’m heartbroken. He was my everything and more and I still don’t know how I’m going to move on. Connor tried to apologize, but I feel nothing but sadness and emptiness. This morning I served my brother an eviction notice. He begged me to stay and said he didn’t mean to ruin my relationship and he just didn’t think when he said those words.
I just can’t look at him right now. He ruined my life. After I raised him and cared for him like he was my own. I feel so hurt. Am I being unreasonable?
21. No One Compares
I was bartending one night. She walked into the bar and I could immediately tell that she was my perfect type—tall, slender, dark hair—just gorgeous. My first thought was, "Please be single, please be single..." Then she sat down next to her husband. They were married for about six months at that point. He was a Wall Street banker and she was a nurse. I got to talking to them at the bar and we hit it off.
Turns out, I had some mutual friends with her husband and we both grew up near the same suburbs outside of Boston. We also went to the same college, but I was older than him by 10 years. Same sports fans, etc. We eventually became friends; all three of us. They kind of had a strange relationship, and they didn't seem to have more than two or three actual friends.
I was one of them. We would do lots of things together (but nothing intimate). She later became pregnant and I became the godfather to her child. I was written in their will and they told me if they both were to leave this world, they wanted ME to raise their kid. Which makes what happened next so much worse. Over the course of eight years, she and I became close while her husband and I were just cordial. She never cheated on him with me physically—it was more an emotional thing.
He was distant and dismissive of her feelings, so I kind of became the surrogate boyfriend. She and I would go out to dinner or do other things together and he was fine with it. He even suggested I take his wife and kid on a vacation so he could get a break from being a dad. I loved her, but I never crossed the line. I always hoped deep down that she would see I was the better guy. I hoped that maybe someday she would leave him.
During the summer of 2020, she told me she was divorcing him. She said she had enough. I'd heard that before from her, but this time, she said she was serious. I kind of brushed it off. She was hanging out with me much more at that point. She couldn't even stand being in the house with him. This went on for three weeks. Eventually, she had a lawyer lined up, but they didn't start the proceedings yet.
Then, one morning, she was working from home and we got to talking. I couldn’t wait any longer. I finally asked her if she was serious about divorcing him and what she thought her post-divorce life might look like. She suggested that I would be the kind of guy she would want to date. That turned into more talking and soon after that, we started having frank discussions about dating each other after she got divorced.
This went on for about two more weeks. We started to text and FaceTime each other more. Physically, we weren't cheating...but we were headed down that road. One morning, she was over at my place before work and we got to talking some more. I leaned in at one point, and she leaned towards me. We kissed. We were stone-cold sober. It was passionate and really hot.
Then we continued talking some more about life after her divorce. Hearing her speak, it seemed to me like she was at a tipping point. The one thing keeping her from free-falling to the other side was...her kid. She loves him, obviously. He was only six years old at the time and she felt super guilty about divorcing her husband and ruining her son's life.
Also, on paper, her life looked amazing. Together with her husband, they had around $500k in combined income. Their net worth was $3 million. It would be hard for anyone to just walk away from that. I myself do well enough, but I'm just a bartender; not some Wall Street banker. I have always been smart with my money. I even own my own home and saved up $700k in a Roth IRA over the years.
Still, our relationship was growing stronger by the day and we wanted more of each other. Did I feel bad? No. I was under the impression that she was just waiting for the pandemic to end so she could divorce him under better circumstances. I'm sure lots of people like me have heard that. I'd known her for years...she couldn't be lying to me. No way.
But I was wrong. The guilt of what we were doing became too much for her. The "affair" lasted about two months, and we slept with each other only a handful of times. I told her that I didn't want it to just be like that. "Get a divorce. Give me a call." That's how I left it. She texted me a bit and even visited me once in December. We only talked a bit. She even told me then that she still wanted to go through with the divorce. I told her to let me know when it happened.
Then she ghosted me. I sent an email to her around Christmas. Never heard back. I tried calling her office a week later. Went straight to voicemail. I waited. Weeks turned to months. Never heard a peep from her. We live in the same area of town, but I never saw her. I didn't push it, since I figured with the pandemic still raging in 2021 that the divorce would happen by summertime. Then I got news that made my blood run ice cold.
I found out in April that she was pregnant. I never spoke to her after that. I'm not sure if it was planned or if he suspected something was going on between us and intentionally put a "bun in the oven," but that doesn't really matter. It's December now, and while I know it's over, I'm still hurting over it. Again, I genuinely felt that she was leaving him for me.
I now get the anger and hate towards people who are in affairs. But when you are the one in the affair, it's hard to just think, "Oh, I'll find someone else." I have dated my entire life and I never met anyone like her. I'm not sure if I will ever again, and I just want some kind of closure. I want to just hear from her what really happened.
I never thought I would be the type of person to do that. If I was dating hundreds of awesome women, then whatever. But when you are in your mid-40s, the dating pool dwindles down; even for NYC bartenders. Tinder can be rough. You get bot accounts or lots of people who don't even compare to her.
22. A Kiss Is Just A Kiss
I study drama at university, and my boyfriend is in the same course. My boyfriend is a really good-looking guy, but he doesn't seem to know it. He gets a lot of attention from girls and for the most part, doesn't seem to get that they're flirting with him. I'm not generally annoyed by this, and never really say anything. However, there's one girl in our class, let's call her Victoria, who is obsessed with my boyfriend.
She goes out of her way to be paired with him in group activities (for example, if the professor picks groups by numbering us 1, 2, 3, she will move herself to be in the same number as him) and she recently stepped down from a main role in a play we're doing so she could be in a more minor one, simply because this character has a romance with my boyfriend.
I know this is the case, because I've heard her say to her friends that she thinks he's hot and whatnot. I've never said anything to her about it, because she seems pretty insecure (always complaining about how she thinks she's ugly) and I don't see it as a big deal because my boyfriend doesn't care. However, we recently performed the play and had a small afterparty.
She got slightly tipsy was bragging about how she “definitely felt something” when they kissed in the play and she's “going to ask him if he felt the same.” I rolled my eyes and again ignored it, until she actually went up to my boyfriend. When she went up to him I was there too. Victoria started saying that she knows he must have felt a spark, he's a really good kisser, etc.
I snapped. I sort of shouted at her that “You sound incredibly desperate, going after somebody else's boyfriend. You're pathetic if you think a stage kiss means you should be together.” She looked super embarrassed and walked away, and I later heard she'd gone home crying. I feel like a jerk because she's obviously insecure and whatnot, and her friends haven't stopped calling me a witch since.
23. If The Shoe Fits
My wife is a neat freak. Always has been. She throws notes on my desk out assuming they're garbage, my belongings get rearranged to the point where it takes me hours to find them; it's something I've come to accept. I'm not happy about it, but we have a pretty happy marriage on the whole. I am a volunteer EMT, and I keep my boots unlaced up against the wall next to my clothes hamper so that I can throw them on along with my uniform if a call comes in during the middle of the night.
Well, my wife has taken to tying the bootlaces when she sees them untied. Not only does she tie them, but she tightens them and double knots them to the point where I need to undo the knot, open up the boots, and let a little slack out to fit my feet into them. I ignored it the first two times, but the third time she did it, I made it a point to bring up to her the next day.
I very calmly said, "Honey, I appreciate that you want everything neat, but please do not touch my boots in the future. Time is of the essence when I'm going on a call and at two in the morning I don't have the time to unlace them and open them up. It's not just a minor inconvenience, it's people's lives, so I would appreciate it if you left them alone."
She rolled her eyes, said I was being dramatic, and that she wouldn't help me out by keeping my things neat in the future. Well, she never stopped. No matter how many times I've asked her, told her, begged her; she just laughs and says, "Well you know how I am!" Then disaster struck. The other night a page went out for a CPR in progress.
I went to throw my boots on and they were, once again, tightened beyond recognition. So I'm sitting there on the edge of the bed, cursing, trying to get my boots open, and fumbling due to the stress of the situation. My wife opened her eyes, groggily looked at me, and asked, "Don't you need to go on that call?" I know I was in the wrong here, and I regret it.
I slammed the boot into the ground and yelled, "Yes! I do! I would have been out the door five minutes ago, except SOME STUPID WITCH MESSED WITH MY BOOTS AGAIN!" My wife got up without another word, walked into the bathroom, and slammed the door. I got my boots open and went on the call. By the time we arrived, the officers had gotten her back, so I didn't have to do CPR.
Still, I was sweating and shaking thinking my delay could have cost a life. I got home and my wife wasn't talking to me. She ignored me the entire day until we finally sat down and talked. She said I had scared her with how angry I got, that she thought I was going to hit her, and she didn't know I was capable of getting so angry.
Note: I have never raised a hand to her, nor have I ever yelled at her before; I am absolutely not a violent person in any way shape or form. I apologized for yelling at her, and acknowledged that I hadn't meant to snap at her, I was frustrated with the situation as I needed to get to the person in need of CPR as soon as possible and it was a delay that didn't need to happen. I, once again, pleaded with her not to touch my boots because lives were literally on the line.
She told me that if I was going to overreact and make her afraid then she would never touch my boots again because she didn't want to live like that. Last night, before I got into bed, I had a sinking feeling. I went over and checked my boots, and I was very disappointed to find them tightened up again. So I decided to show her how it felt.
I went over to her closet and pulled out her running shoes. I unlaced the shoelaces on both of them, removed them from the shoes completely, curled them each into a little coil, put them inside the shoes, and put them back. I then went to sleep. At 6:15 I was woken up by my wife screaming, "How could you!? Why would you do this?" holding up both laceless shoes with tears in her eyes.
My wife likes to go for an early morning run and I knew she would want to get out the door as soon as possible. I smiled and said, "You know how I am! I just like things neat!" She continued sobbing and walked out of the room. So, by the time she was all laced up again, it was raining so she missed out on her run. I actually feel pretty terrible about that because I really only wanted to delay her, not ruin her plans completely.
At this point, she's alternating between crying that I went out of my way to hurt her and ignoring my presence. I acknowledge that what I've done has been pretty childish and not at all constructive. I just don't know what to do. She said, through tears, "You admitted you were totally in the wrong for yelling at me, and then you turned around and took it out on me in a different way! What is wrong with you?"
The problem is, to her, an apology means taking on 100% of the fault. When I apologized for blowing up, she took that to mean she was 100% in the right and that my feelings were completely unjustified. So at this point, I haven't apologized for ruining her run, because she'll take that to mean that she wasn't wrong to touch my boots.
I've tried to have these discussions but it's in one ear and out the other. We have such a good relationship otherwise, but I feel like this issue has reached a tipping point and it's going to continue to result in arguments until we resolve it.
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24. Getting Catty
The past couple of months, my wife has been complaining about our cats. She’s been claiming that the cats wake her up constantly and that she’s frustrated every night that she “has to get up and open the door for the cats,” or “the cats keep making noises,” or “the cats keep jumping on her.” It got to the point where she started saying she wants me to get rid of them.
I told her I’ve never seen or heard any of this, but she claims I sleep through it all. She kept telling me she was getting less and less sleep and kept acting aggressive, blaming lack of sleep on the cats, and saying that if I didn’t get rid of them, she’d leave me. I legitimately started considering giving the cats to my sister. And then I noticed a detail that changed everything.
One morning, she claimed she had gotten up multiple times throughout the night to help the cats. She listed a bunch of times. I thought it was weird, because I had been up until 4 am and she claimed that she “got up at 1 am to open the door for them, and a few times around 3 am because they were meowing and jumping on her.” I was in the bedroom the entire time while she slept, and I know none of that happened.
Things weren’t adding up, so I decided to run a test. I waited until she said she was going to bed, then I let the cats out of our bedroom, lowered my phone brightness, and faked going to sleep. I just laid there in bed for the entire night, bored, but I definitely did not fall asleep. I made sure to make timestamps every 30 minutes on my phone through Discord just to be sure.
I marked down every noise my cats made. One cat had jumped down from something and made a little sound at 3:18 am, and one ate food relatively quietly by the bedroom door at 4:57 am. Other than that, nothing happened. Sure enough, my wife slept from 11 pm until 9 am, and that morning she claimed she had woken up “at least seven times” to open doors and from cat noises and cats jumping on her.
At this point, I was angry she was clearly lying to me. I was exhausted and fed up with the lies, so I just bluntly called her out on it. I told her, “That’s funny. I stayed up all night to monitor the cats, and they weren’t even in the room at all last night. I have timestamps and everything. So you’ve been lying to me and trying to convince me to get rid of my cats? Why?” I couldn’t believe her response.
She just sat there quietly shaking, then got up and left without answering. She came back hours later and ignored me whenever I talked, and when I asked her how I’m the bad-guy in this situation, she finally said that I was treating her like a child by lying about sleeping and staying up all night just to see if she was lying or not and that making timestamps and everything as if I was an investigator. She said I was “going too far.”
I did it because she was threatening to make me get rid of my cats or she’d leave me, and her claims didn’t add up. Anyway, I got a call from the hospital this morning, asking me to head over for some “family therapy.” Apparently she finally wanted to talk. She revealed the reason at last, and it made me want to scream. She’s not cheating. She’s not sick physically or mentally. She’s not bored of the relationship and looking for an “out.”
According to her, one of the cats stepped on her laptop and ruined a story she was writing. She’s hated both cats ever since. I mean that sucks, but it’s not worth trying to emotionally blackmail me into getting rid of them. I asked her why she didn’t just tell me the truth and why she’d been lying and refused to talk about it when I’d asked.
Her answer was “Because you wouldn’t have gotten rid of them otherwise.” She explained that when she saw I wasn’t willing to abandon them for her, she took offense and made it a “goal” to have me pick her over them. Sickening. Don’t know why she actually admitted to it all. The woman with us asked me how I felt about all of it, and I just told the truth.
I told her it was a nice run, but I’m probably going to want a divorce. I was asked why, and I told them. I’ve seen a new hateful, malicious side of her that I want nothing to do with. She was so set on getting rid of the cats over a fanfiction being ruined that she manipulated her husband. My wife started shouting at me that I’ve betrayed her and that I’m “scum” for choosing animals over her.
At least cats don’t give ultimatums like she gave. I’m almost sure I’m going for divorce. I’m very worried about having her in the same house as my cats. I want my cats safe. I don’t want to worry about them being harmed or “disappearing.” Screw that. Not how I wanted it to end, but life isn’t always nice.
25. Watching You
I went over, and we got in an argument so I slept on the floor, essentially. I went to the bathroom to text one of my buddies to come pick me up since I thought she had fallen asleep. I suddenly get a text from her saying, "Where are you?" And, of course, my phone made a sound. I froze up and opened the bathroom door. I genuinely feared for my safety.
She was already standing there waiting for me in the darkness. She didn't say a word at all, just stared at me until I walked by. I went back to my spot on the floor and got under the blanket and pretended to be falling asleep until she did. After about 30 minutes, I decided to peek out from under the covers and...she was literally towering over me in total darkness with her eyes wide open the entire time. I got out of there so fast.
26. Marital Prison
We were living in New England at the time. My wife had just started a new job, and I was pretty well entrenched in my career there. We'd just bought our first home five years ago and we loved it. Things seemed to be going really well—we were both earning good money, our house was beautiful, and our relationship was solid...or so I thought.
Then she decided she didn't want to live there anymore. She missed her family and she wanted to go home. She wanted me to be with her, just not there. She told me this via text message while sending me a copy of an offer letter for a new job that she had interviewed for secretly and told me she was accepting. The emotional crisis was suddenly in full swing, and I was blind to the lead-up.
My world was totally rocked. All three legs of my milking stool— marriage, career, and home—suddenly kicked out from under me in the blink of an eye. She was going, and if I wanted to stay married, so was I. That meant having to sell our home, quit my job, find a new one, buy a new home, etc...No small feat. She left at the beginning of winter and she decided that I would live alone until the spring when the housing market started back up.
That way, we could get top dollar for our property and have more of a selection to choose from. I had made it clear that I would only go from one home to another home. Getting the first house was reaching a goal I never thought was possible, and I was reluctant to give it up so quickly and go back to renting. I saw that as an absolute crushing failure. Spring was right around the corner, then BOOM, the pandemic showed up, which slowed my plans to join her.
On top of that, my boss—with whom I had been communicating my struggles from the start—didn't want to lose me, and I was working out a way to have him keep me on as a permanent remote worker. This was a time-consuming HR process which only slowed things down more. All-in-all, we were living apart for about 10 months, while I was riding out the winter, navigating the pandemic, working with my employer to keep my job, selling our house, and buying a new one.
We saw each other almost every weekend, but those visits were often horrible. I was bitter about the entire situation, and she was angry with me over my bitterness. Six months into our new home, she made a disturbing revelation about the time we were apart. She admitted to me that she had an affair that lasted for nearly our entire time apart. He was a former college professor of hers, and they had maintained a friendship via Facebook ever since.
He was significantly older than her and he was recently divorced. He had begun reaching out to her to talk through his troubles, and she, being angry with me, was talking to him in turn. She later met him at a conference in Boston, on his invitation, to hear him speak. After his presentation, they shared a drink, then went back to his room.
They met up once or twice a week for the 10 months we were apart. While I was hugging my wife's pillow in our empty bed, she was hugging him in his. It worked in his favor that he was a psychology professor who had authored papers on manipulation because he told her she was in the right, and that I was an awful husband who should have dropped everyone and everything on a whim if I didn't want this to be happening.
He told her that because I stayed behind to try to save my job and sell our home, I was likely never going to go with her. Their affair ended when he moved away for a new job. He wanted her to join him and start a new life with him, but she refused. But it gets even more devastating. They got intimate with each other one final time...and he got her pregnant (a feat I had been unsuccessful at despite my best efforts). She got rid of the baby and never told him.
One month later, I joined her in a new home that I had bought for us. I often wish she went with him, or at the very least had the courtesy to tell me about the affair before I sold my home, moved to this wasteland that I now live in, and committed myself to a future of what basically amounts to house arrest. I now stay in my tiny home office, all day long, every day, with no coworkers outside of those I see on ZOOM calls, and no friends outside of the people I meet on games...
The one person I do see every day? My wife.
27. Can’t Bury The Hatchet
Some backstory: I had been dating my ex-fiancé Sarah for four years. We had been planning to get married but I found out recently that she cheated on me. She begged me to give her another chance but I broke it off. The problem was that being cheated on is, in my mind, completely emasculating and humiliating. So I never told anyone that was the reason we broke up.
For obvious reasons, Sarah also didn’t tell people we broke up because she cheated. So people have “blamed” me for the breakup, including my mom. They just see that I dumped her out of the blue. I’ve gone very strict no contact with Sarah after I discovered she was cheating on me. Sarah has been talking with my mom and has convinced her that if we could talk one more time, we would be able to reconcile.
My mom has been applying pressure on me to talk with Sarah but I’ve explained that there’s no chance we will ever get back together. So tonight I go over to my mom’s place because she’s hosting family for Christmas Eve. I’m there for a bit talking with my aunts and uncles and cousins when the doorbell rings. I look outside to a heart-stopping sight.
I can see it’s Sarah. I ask what the heck is going on and my mom says she invited Sarah so we can work this out in the spirit of the holidays. I’m angry now because the only way to explain my side of the story is to tell everyone I was cheated on. Complete humiliation in front of my whole family. So as my mom goes to the front door, I go into the bathroom.
My mom starts knocking on the door saying that I need to come out and talk to my ex like an adult. I say screw it, kick out the window screen, get in my car, and go home. My mom called a short while ago saying she’s cutting ties with me over my behavior (she’s really fixated on me jumping out of a window) and that Sarah will always be like a child to her.
My sister also called me after to ream me out for ruining Christmas. I broke down and told her that Sarah cheated on me which is why I dumped her and didn’t want to see her under any circumstances. She called me a big jerk who was lying to cover for myself.
28. Mrs. Wrong
My wife and I have been married for slightly more than three years now. Last Christmas, I saw texts I wish I could unsee. I found she had been having a long conversation with a co-worker of hers, in which they talked about sleeping together multiple times and that they couldn’t wait for the next one. The guy said he was going to book a hotel near their office right after Christmas.
In this conversation, when he said he was looking forward to seeing my wife, she would reply with things like “I’m looking forward to much more than just seeing you” etc. You get the idea. Overly flirty and all that. When I confronted my wife, however she denied the conversation existed. After deleting it, she showed me her phone to prove it didn't exist.
But I had taken a few pictures. She then said it was all virtual and that they never did anything physical. To prove she was right, she messaged her co-worker (in front of me) asking if he had booked the hotel, he replied “not yet.” She then asked if he was really expecting them to meet, to which he replied negatively.
She promised they would never talk again and I agreed, simply because I love her a lot and wanted to trust her, but in my mind I wasn’t completely sure she had been honest. For a few weeks, I must admit I checked her phones a few too many times, so she changed her password, which I was fine with because I was probably being too paranoid.
This week, I picked her phone up because I needed a code that had been sent to her phone number; I didn’t even need to unlock the screen to get it. When I saw her messages, my blood ran cold. To my surprise, under the message with the code there were other messages from the same guy. One of them was an audio, the second one was a shirtless photo of himself in front of a mirror, and the third one said “sweaty” and a few emojis with the tongue.
I confronted her, since she had promised they wouldn’t talk ever again and she said he just wanted to show her he’s going to the gym to show progress. But that the rest of the times they talk it’s just about work, and that this is just a coincidence. I asked her to show me the rest of their messages but she said she had mistakenly deleted their conversation history.
My wife says she’s going to change this time and that I never really forgave her and that’s why she kept talking to the guy. She says this time she’s really going to stop but I have a hard time believing it. Or even if she does stop, I fear when things don't go so well between us she'll do it again. I really love her but can’t keep living like this.
My brain just can’t overcome the catastrophe and the collapse of the world I had built for me in which my wife is my love, my best friend, and partner, as well as the person I admire the most. She was entirely perfect, and made me happy for many years. I thought no couple in the world could have what we had. We were both very happy for a long time.
We were both attractive, we were both inherently good, had big hearts, and were individually wildly successful in our careers. Recently, I moved in with my family to think things through for few months. It’s been a terrible time but a psychologist is helping me recover from a terrible mental state. My wife was very sorry and continued saying they hadn't met.
I knew it wasn't true but was willing to forgive the woman of my dreams, who continued being in the highest altar of my universe. Fast forward to last Saturday morning. I went back to our place, ready to forgive her and talk things through in the most mature way possible. And well, there she was, but I was the one who received the biggest surprise.
THE guy was in my house naked, and so was my wife. The guy from the messages, the guy from the pictures. The one she said she didn't even like. I caught him hiding in my bathroom as my wife was putting her pajamas on. When I saw him hiding in my bathroom, he uttered, "Sorry dude." I didn’t even know what to say back.
All I said was, "I’ve got nothing against you." Even if he was doing it in a house full of pictures of me. Pictures of our wedding and our families. Pictures of my late father who would be so sad to see how the marriage he never witnessed was going to end. He has always been the reason I try to make the world a better place. He passed two months before our wedding.
I'm sorry. But I understand enough is enough. Even if my world collapses, I hope I can build a new one without lies and in which I'm not just a blind believer under an altar of a fake god.
29. Regrets, I’ve Had A Few
My wife and I are both 42 and in marriage counseling after our marriage basically went to heck after having kids (six and four-year-old twins). A lot of issues and disagreements have come up in the marriage that has driven us apart, and I have been working through my resentment that going back for one more baby resulted in twins, including one which we are pretty sure has ADHD and is a nightmare child.
Our counsellor asked me if I would have children if I had to do it all over again. I confessed my darkest secret. I said, "Honestly, no." I love my kids, but if I had the chance to go back to 24 when I finished grad school and could do my life over again, I wouldn't choose fatherhood. It is not the fulfilling experience everyone claims and the sacrifices are not worth it to me.
I had a much happier life before having children and have gone from someone who loved life to someone who just...makes it through the day, working a job he hates to provide for the wife and kids while silently wishing this wasn't my life. My wife is furious and taking it the wrong way and even told our six-year-old "daddy wishes you were never born" which makes me livid.
You don't tell the kid that. Yes, I wish I never had kids, but I do love them, would never hurt them or want to upset them. And I didn't say it to/in front of my kids and I never, ever will. I said it in marriage counseling, which should be a safe space to talk about feelings. It has become a huge fight, our marriage is not going to be saved now, and I know she will try and use this against me in divorce court to try and get sole custody and take everything and lie to the kids who I do love and still want to be a dad to them.
She is incapable of understanding that you can love your kids but also feel that parenthood wasn't the best choice for you.
30. They Love Me, They Love Me Not
I was dating a guy for not even 6 months when a family member in another province in Canada unexpectedly passed away. My mom and aunties were going to go alone to deal with everything, but I knew there would be a lot of heavy lifting with his belongings, and I didn't want them to do everything alone. It might have been too much.
I used to do weight training and can do a lot of heavy lifting, so me being there would help with that. So, I went and did most of the moving of my late uncle's belongings. I got everything organized and sorted, packed his truck, and drove it back to our home city, which was an 8-hour drive. On top of that, I dealt with all the paperwork, since I have a long history of admin experience.
I'm also a part-time Ordained Minister and was asked to do the eulogy for the funeral/cremation. No problem, that's my job and it's an honor to serve my family. During this time, the dude I'm with won't stop blowing up my phone. He tries to tell me I'm cheating on him. He even messages my brother on Facebook saying that there's an emergency and he needs to talk to me right away.
The emergency was that he's afraid my uncle’s passing made me unlove him. I cut ties as soon as I got back in the city, but he still stalked me.
31. All Lies
I can tell you how my ex-wife’s affair started. A guy she knew was dumped by his girlfriend. He just needed someone to talk to and he confided in her. She told me I “didn’t need to worry about him” because he was fat and older, so she wouldn't be attracted to him. Suddenly, she stopped communicating with me and eventually started lying about being at his house.
I should point out she had cheated on me before, but this was her first affair. It was all really downhill from there. The funny thing is, I remember meeting the guy a couple of years earlier and I thought he was creepy a heck. I didn’t like him one bit. Turns out, that feeling was right. He's a creep.
32. By Any Other Name
I met my boyfriend three ago. Before me, he was with his high school sweetheart. They fell out of love and broke up. A year later, we started dating. His mom, however, was still heartbroken about it. I was very understanding and thought she needed time to get to know me. The ex basically grew up with them and they saw her as a part of the family. But that doesn’t excuse what she did.
For the first year of my relationship, his mom would call me the ex’s name, until boyfriend got angry once and told her to be nice. She laughed it off and said it was just a habit. After that, she started calling me the wrong name, Janet instead of Jenny. I corrected her a couple of times but she seemed to like hurting me so I ignored it later. Then I got my revenge.
My boyfriend has two sisters, and a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving we were invited to BBQ at the older sister’s house. I was in the kitchen with my boyfriend’s mom, the sisters, and one of their husbands. The older sister then talked about how my boyfriend praised my cooking to her husband and the mom was listening. She then said out loud “SURE! Why don’t we let Janet make the turkey this year?” The sisters giggled and looked at each other.
I simply said, “That’s a great idea!” I didn’t tell my boyfriend what happened. On Thanksgiving, we went to his mom’s house with the usual dessert, not with the turkey. His mom was shocked I didn’t bring it; everybody was shocked. I had the perfect reply. I said “What? I thought Janet was bringing the turkey!” There was yelling, crying, and then we got kicked out.
My boyfriend is so angry with me he hasn’t talked to me since. I think it’s over, to be honest. But I still don’t think I did anything wrong!
33. Getting Cold Feet
My wife and I have been married four years now, coming on five. We have generally had a good relationship and a good marriage. We had a reasonably expensive wedding, which we're still paying for now. I get the bill every month to prove it. My wife took charge of planning the wedding, so it was to her tastes. She seemed to enjoy it at the time.
In fact, for the first few years of our marriage, she would look back at the wedding with me happily and without issues. In recent months, however, I've noticed my wife's attitude to a) our wedding and b) our marriage itself shift. It began by her (I thought jokingly) referring to herself as my “girlfriend.” She told me to buy her a “girlfriend” card for Valentine's Day rather than a “wife” one, for example.
I thought she was just playing around at first. But this behavior has only escalated. Two months ago, my wife stopped wearing her wedding ring. I was understandably upset and asked her if there was something wrong. She told me everything was fine and she just “Doesn't like the sensation of jewelry on her hands.” My wife has never liked rings and so this could be the case.
But when we are with friends, my wife will now get upset if I talk about her as “my wife” rather than just a girlfriend. She will go as far as to interrupt me if I'm talking or telling a story to “correct” me on our relationship. Initially, this was something our friends laughed at, but now everybody just finds it understandably awkward.
One of our friends was talking about their own wedding, which is scheduled for early next year. They asked for advice from my wife about how she'd planned ours, and my wife’s reply stunned the room to silence. She responded with, “What wedding?” When our friend continued talking about the table decorations my wife had used, my wife visibly teared up in front of the whole group and had to step outside.
Later that evening, I asked her directly if she has a problem with our relationship or if I'm doing something wrong in our marriage. She assured me that everything is fine between us. From my perspective, outside of this issue, our relationship is as strong as ever. We are considering kids in the near future, and my wife recently suggested we get matching tattoos as a renewal of our love. I just don’t know what this is about.
34. Zero-Sum Game
I am the breadwinner of our household. I have multiple, highly specialized degrees for a niche industry. I make 200k+, with the potential to get in the 600-M’s range. My company has not been hit that badly by COVID, so most of us have kept our jobs, but we’re held to strict standards. My husband has a broad degree and work experience. He quit his job right before this all hit, hoping for a better job in the meantime, and I was supportive.
He spent a ton of time applying to various jobs and finally landed an interview at Organization X. This is his dream job in almost every imaginable way. It’s paying about 65k a year. There’s just one enormous problem. This would all be fine except this job directly puts my job stability at risk. My company and this organization are adversarial, at best.
My field is extremely secretive, and if clients discovered my spouse was working for a competitor, I would be permanently tainted. I wouldn’t be able to get a job in the industry forever. I know this sounds like an exaggeration, but I promise you, it absolutely is not. It’d be like if I worked in protecting the privacy of celebrities, and he worked for TMZ.
If he tapped my car, got into my work devices, he could use that to advance his career, and any trust I have in this field will be gone. Even if I trusted my husband not to do that (and I do), my clients and company don’t. Worse, because my background is so specialized, this is the only field I can work in. I asked him to drop from consideration for this job, since if he got it, we’d lose my income.
65k a year cannot support us in this city. Plus, he does not have to work for this organization. Even if the job market is awful right now, his background gives him access to a wide range of jobs, but I only have this one, niche field. He was extremely angry and said I was “selfish and only cared about money.” I told him that if he wanted to go back to school for an advanced degree or just be unemployed for a while, I would support him, but taking this job isn’t possible. It reached a horrible breaking point.
He continued the process behind my back and got the offer. He wants to accept it because he says his career needs to take priority and that I wasn’t being a supportive wife. I feel so betrayed, and I’ve contacted all relevant higher-ups in my company to inform them. I notified them as soon as he got the interview because it’s better coming from my email than from a background check.
I told him he could decline the offer, with me watching him physically decline it, or he could accept the offer and move out immediately. I would pay for him to stay two weeks at a hotel, and we would begin divorce proceedings. My company is willing to take care of all of my fees. I feel awful. I still love him. I moved decisively because this was the best way to cut my losses, but it still hurts.
He called me heartless and cold. It’s true that I was prioritizing my career over his, but it felt like the only option at the time.
35. Crazily Romantic
He followed me on a night out, got on his knees, stopping traffic in the middle of a city center street to declare his love. We had been on two dates. He also told me that same night that he could see into the future and already knew he was going to die defending my honor while I was carrying our twins. Yeah...he was fun.
36. Out Of The Blue
My ex had an affair. She ran an in-home daycare. One of the dads of kids was going through a divorce, and my ex, who was my wife at the time, helped him through it more than I knew. One day, she told me that she wanted a divorce. It seemed out of the blue to me...until I saw the two of them together when I followed her to her work one day.
37. Meddling Mother-In-Law
I married my husband a year ago. His mom is snoopy and annoying. She can't help it, that is “just how she is,” as my dear in-laws say. My husband and I purchased a new house recently, but my mother-in-law kept pushing to get an emergency key from us. She promised that she would only use it in an “emergency,” but at our last apartment, she kept walking in on us at all hours of the day, sometimes in very compromising positions.
I just couldn't trust her, so I sent her a fake key (after she kept pushing) and she had a smug smile on her face after I hand-delivered it to her. Days go by, and then at Christmas dinner, she angrily called me out about this fake key. She shamed me for doing this in front of everyone, but I knew I had her. Defending myself, I asked how she found out it was fake.
She said she came over a few days ago at 4:00 pm while my husband and I were out. I reminded her, "Didn't you promise you wouldn't use it unless there's an emergency? So you tried to get in when there was no emergency and you broke the promise you made to us?" She looked red in the face. My other family members started staring and some even laughed at her.
She suddenly got up from her seat and rushed into the kitchen where she had a huge meltdown so loud the next-door neighbors must've heard. Literally, I've never heard a 60-year-old woman throw a tantrum like that. Needless to say, dinner went awkwardly after that and my husband and his sister were giving me looks. My husband went off on me in the car and said I lied, manipulated, humiliated, and exposed his mom.
He said he wouldn't have let me get away with it had he known. We had an argument and he is demanding I apologize to his mom for my childish behavior and for ruining Christmas dinner for the whole family.
38. Getting To Know You
I live a pretty normal life, and I thought so did my girlfriend. We've been together for a few months and after things got serious, we moved in together. We started sharing a lot of the household responsibilities, but the one thing she was adamant on doing was the laundry. She would come home and find me in the bedroom getting the laundry together and would quickly ask me to go do something else.
I'd come back to finish the laundry and she would have already started it. I always thought it was sweet and never her job to do it alone, but hey, if it makes her happy to do it all the time, I wouldn't stop her. This is where it takes a turn for the weird. I keep all my socks and underwear in the bottom drawer of my dresser.
I also go to the gym frequently, so I always keep a good supply of clean gym socks ready to go. I never kept count, but I know by just a visual glance I have several pairs. This morning when I went to grab a fresh pair to pack for the gym, I noticed there were several dress socks, but no gym socks. Again, not weird, they must have been in the laundry.
I went to check the laundry basket and it was empty, so I checked the washing machine and dryer. Both were empty. I couldn't figure out where all of my gym socks had gone. So, I did the very natural thing of asking my girlfriend what had happened to them. After all, she is the one who does the laundry all the time. She went silent, turned red, and ran out of the room.
When I went after her to see if she was okay, she wouldn't talk to me. I told her I wasn't mad, I was just looking for my socks. She kind of mumbled, "I don't know." I still wasn't mad, of course, but I was super confused. Socks just don't disappear. So I asked her again, even laughed about it, and she just looked at me and got mad and said, "I'll buy you new ones!"
The first thought that went through my head was she had somehow managed to destroy my socks while washing them. I thought the sight of that was actually pretty funny, so I joked with her about ruining my socks. Wrong. Thing. To. Say. She started immediately crying. Like, full on sobbing. At this point I don't care about the socks anymore, I want to know what's wrong with my girlfriend.
I sat down next to her on the bed and put my arm around her and asked her if she was okay. She just kept saying she was sorry and that she would buy me new socks. I tried assuring her again it was okay. Even went so far as to say I would buy new socks and she didn't have to. I sat with her for a few minutes, trying to calm her down, and eventually had to get ready for work.
I told her loved her and got my things together to leave for the day. On my way out, I grabbed the garbage to take outside. When I got outside, I lifted the lid off the garbage can and I noticed a small plastic bag sitting on top of the garbage already in there. I could see through the bag (kind of the semi see-through ones), and there were socks in the bag.
Since I was sure she had somehow managed to ruin the socks washing them, I wanted to see for myself. I opened the bag and immediately regretted my choice. There, inside the bag, were several pairs of my gym socks covered in what looked like poop. As soon as the smell hit me I knew it WAS POOP. We don't own any pets. We don't have any kids.
WHOSE POOP WAS ON MY SOCKS? Work could wait. I couldn't go the rest of the day wondering why my gym socks were covered in poop and inside a plastic bag in the garbage can. I grabbed the bag and walked back inside. As soon as my girlfriend saw the bag she flipped out and started yelling at me. She said I shouldn't be going through the garbage and that I was disgusting for bringing it back into the house.
I asked her to calm down and that I just wanted an answer as to why there was poop on my socks. I wasn't blaming her or anything, but she started accusing me of blaming her. That's when it clicked. I don't know what it was that led me to ask this, but everything leading up to this moment had just been so crazy. I asked her, "Is this your poop?"
She started sobbing again and ran out of the house. I didn't go after her this time. The only conclusion for me at the time was that she used them after going to the bathroom. Which that alone has its own set of questions above everything else. I sent her text asking her to come back, and I left for work after throwing away the bag of poopy socks.
She texted me back and she's clearly embarrassed, but felt she owed me an explanation. She said she didn't want to talk about it in person and that we could discuss it over texting and to NOT bring it up in person. Her responses were super short, but I'm getting the idea. I flat out asked her if it was a fetish. It is not, apparently.
She confessed to using the socks after going to the bathroom. I found the reason she always does the laundry is because she was hiding the fact that she uses socks to wipe with, primarily her own. I had no reason to question the amount of socks she ever has because who pays attention to that kind of thing? She thought I would notice and think it was weird since she doesn't own many socks.
She admitted she has done this for a long time. Her reasoning, as best as I can understand, is that because she is a germaphobe (her word), she is afraid toilet paper will tear and is afraid of getting her hands messy in ANY WAY. She uses socks because they cover her entire hand. After she's done with them, she throws them away.
She used mine because she didn't have other socks. So, my girlfriend has a fear of getting poop on her hands so she wipes with socks, and has done so for a long, long time. It could be worse, I guess. I hope we can laugh about this later. I'm trying to find the humor in it now, but I'm still weirded out, I have to admit. At least I know the truth.
39. It’s Me Or You
So I have a cat named Raven who's three years old. My girlfriend of two years moved in with me a few weeks ago and it was clear she didn't like my cat. I didn't think it was really a big deal until one day I got home and he was just gone. He's not an outdoor cat and he never goes outside. He was gone for hours and I was worried sick until my buddy came to my house and returned him, saying he found him two blocks from my house.
I asked my girlfriend how my cat, who has never tried to go out before, ended up that far from my house. She admitted to throwing him out. I was furious, saying she had no right to do that, and told her that since she thought she had the power to throw my cat out, I wanted her out of my house by the end of the month. She cried that she had nowhere to go and that she would have to live on the streets.
I said I didn't care and told her to leave by the end of the month. My friends think I'm being too harsh, but my cat could have gotten seriously hurt because of her and I don't want her trying anything else.
40. The Sound Of Music
I was dating a girl in college that I was really into. We both loved going to watch concerts for smaller emo-type bands. Anyway, I took her to Dallas with my sister—who happened to be dating the lead singer of one of the bands at the show—and a couple of other friends. The show was at a venue called Trees and it had a really cool almost cellar-like feel.
Well after the show was over, we were all hanging out with a lot of the band members in the cellar-like bar area. We were all laughing and having a good conversation when my girlfriend says, out of the blue, "This seems like a really good place to screech." So, confused as we are, one of the guys from the band says, "Screech?" Oh god, I wish he hadn't asked.
And, then my girlfriend immediately lets out this high-pitched, godawful, screech that had everyone in the venue turn around to see what was causing this terrible sound. My sister looked at my girlfriend and then back at me as if to say, "Why in the world would she do that?" The guys from the band just stared at her for what seemed like forever before simply saying, "OooooooK."
And that was the first and only time that I knew the exact moment that I was done with a relationship...The second we got back to town, I got out of the car and said, "Well, it's been fun, but this relationship just isn't going to work for me." And that, as they say, was that. That was the last time I ever heard from her.
41. Used And Excused
This happened just a few hours ago. I am a 19-year-old man. On Thursday, a person I had a major crush on in high school (but who rejected me) messaged me out of the blue. She had never contacted me without my contacting her first, and at one point I realized she had had me blocked on social media, so I found it odd that she was suddenly being friendly.
After sending a couple of greetings/questions about how I've been, she said that she was going to have some people over and wanted to know if I would get the drinks. The drinking age where we are is 19, and she and the people who were going to chill were all 18. I thought it was silly that my being a month older meant I could buy drinks and they couldn't, so I said I would love to go.
She said, "Thanks, I'll pick you up at seven!" 7 o'clock rolled around and she texted me to say she was in front of my house. I went out dressed and ready to chill with some people, and she drove me to the store. When we got there, I asked what she wanted me to get, and she told me to get Budweiser. I hid my disappointment as well as I could, but it was her party so I went in and bought two cases of 24.
I got back in the car and said, "Let's party.” She went eerily quiet. I noticed that she wasn't driving towards her neighborhood, but rather back towards mine. I thought she had moved or something, but didn't want to press the issue. When she turned down my street I finally figured it out. She was being purposefully vague about the invitation because she wanted me to get the drinks but she wanted a way out when she told me I wasn't actually invited in the first place.
She stopped in front of my house, leaned over, kissed me on the cheek, and said "Thanks!" in her best voice. I asked when she was going to tell me I wasn't invited. She feigned surprise and said that she never intended to invite me in the first place. I sat in silence for a long awkward minute. Then I did the only thing I could to regain power. I picked up the drinks and walked towards my front door.
She got out of her car and frantically tried to re-invite me to the party, but I told her that what she did was the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me. I opened my front door, slammed it a bit too hard, and went back to my room. Now I have text messages from all of her friends and her asking me why I'm being such a jerk.
I don't think I’m a jerk for reacting the way I did, but if you haven't figured it out, I'm not amazing socially…so I'm not sure.
42. Craigslist Selection
A lot of people meet on Craigslist for affairs that end up being ongoing. My friend hooked up with a guy on Craigslist who turned out to be married with kids. My friend told him that he wanted to stop because he felt bad for his wife, and his response was: "Why? It's not like you know her personally." So I guess what my friend learned is that the world is full of people who won't think twice about cheating on their wives.
43. Love Potion Number 9
Monday, my boyfriend and I decided to make the 8ish hour drive back to our home state to live for a few months. Right before leaving, we got into a big fight because I wanted to stay at my mother’s house for a while. However, he doesn’t want me to, among other things I won’t get into. Well, before leaving we decided to eat dinner so we didn’t have to stop anywhere.
Fast forward to our drive, and not long after hitting the road, it all went so wrong. I passed out. I don’t even really remember falling asleep. I woke up one time for a while, drank some Gatorade that he gave me, and then I fell asleep again. I thought this was extremely weird because I wasn’t tired hardly at all and we didn’t even leave super early.
I kept commenting on how weird it was that I was tired the whole drive and slept 90% of it. Yesterday, the tension eased a bit, and he made a disturbing confession. He made the offhanded comment that he wishes he could drug me more when I “act out” and argue with him. I ask him what he’s talking about. He proceeds to tell me he put Benadryl in my drink.
That’s why I slept, so he didn’t have to deal with me. He literally said this as though it wasn’t that big of a deal! I’m still reeling from the conversation and completely floored. I don’t know if I’m overreacting or not but something tells me I’m not, and it’s extremely messed up to put medicine in drinks. I don’t even know what to do.
44. Getting My Priorities Straight
I had a very long and toxic relationship with an ex. I had wanted to leave for years, but he would threaten to end himself and I would end up staying. I, finally, got the courage to walk away when I was diagnosed with several benign liver tumors and was told by the doctor that it was very important with this type of tumor to immediately and permanently stop taking hormonal birth control.
I researched it on my own and confirmed the single most important thing I could do to avoid further complications was to stop taking hormonal birth control for good. I told my then-husband about the appointment and he said, oh so calmly, "Well that's going to be a problem." I was like, “What do you mean? I'll go to the gynecologist as soon as I can get an appointment and we can just use condoms until then.”
Nope. According to him, condoms were unacceptable because we were married. And not being intimate until I got to go to the gynecologist was also unacceptable. And that's not even the part that really made my blood run cold. That was when he suggested that I should continue to take birth control as normal and just not tell the doctor. "He'll never know," he said.
Then he went on to suggest that maybe I could go on and off birth control so I'd be off of it before any follow-up appointments with this doctor, to ensure that he'd never know. I was totally stunned and I just looked at him and said, "You understand this could kill me? This isn't about placating a doctor; this is about my life."
He just shrugged and said he wasn't using condoms and I needed to "figure it out." I did figure it out. I left him more than a decade ago and have never been happier.
Pexels
45. Oh, Baby
Ever since we had a baby, my wife has been talking like a baby herself. Rather than teaching the baby to talk like a person, it's as if my wife's language has become baby-like. She would make noises in between conversations like "Bo-dee-bo-dee-chooop" and "Awowo-fwatata" even when talking with adults. This is especially embarrassing when I am with her in public places, when she talks like that to complete strangers.
I have been asking her nicely to not do that but she would just laugh it off, totally oblivious to how people around us stare whenever she talks like a baby. I have to point out that she is not on the spectrum, just a crazy new mom, in fact too crazy sometimes. It was a day off for us, my parents were babysitting the baby, and we finally have some time to ourselves.
We went out for dinner and she did it again. She was talking to the waiter and went something like this: "Yippy thanks ya-ha-ha-hah. Owoyoyaya by the way can you give us an extra plate for this?" Seeing how the waiter was staring at her, I rolled my eyes and told her: "I am taking a break today and don't need another baby who cannot even talk properly to look after. Please excuse me."
Then I left the restaurant without her. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I guess I just snapped.
46. Daddy Issues
I met my wife when we were in high school and we married in college. We have five beautiful children together—really, I consider them a total blessing regardless of what I'm about to bring up—and up until a couple of weeks ago, I thought that we had the perfect marriage. We were typical high school sweethearts for the longest time.
We go out together, we never fight, and I feel like I've done everything a loving husband should do. I am saying this not to make myself out as the perfect husband, for example my work has always meant I work long hours and maybe I haven't always been there when she needed me, but I want to stress that I've never felt our marriage was in any trouble.
And never in a million years would I ever have suspected my wife of being disloyal. She's always done everything she could to support me and take care of our children. Now, my eldest daughter recently had an ancestry test done. Well, the results of the test shook me to my core. They strongly suggested I was not her father.
She confided this to me privately, showing me the results, and I could tell this visibly upset her. Of course, the first thing I did was reassure her that no matter what, she's my daughter and I'll always love her unconditionally. But secondly, the two of us decided to get an official paternity test, since the ancestry tests are not completely reliable.
It comes back and I am indeed not her biological father. This news really broke me. I'm ashamed to say I broke down in tears in front of my daughter. It was a combination of finding out about my wife's infidelity and how upset I was making my daughter by how I was reacting. I really wish I had kept it in for her sake, but I didn't.
Following this, I asked my other children, except my youngest, to come and see me. I wanted to know the extent of my wife's infidelity—if it was a one off, I could maybe work past it, especially given how long ago it would have been. However, I didn't want to tell my youngest as she is still in school, a teenager, and really I didn't think it was appropriate to tell her yet.
We tell the other three what has happened, and I reassure them that I love them unconditionally and that I'll always be their dad, but that I need to know how long this has been going on. God, I can't begin to explain how touching their reaction was. They didn't care if I wasn't their biological father, they were just upset at how heartbroken I was.
I feel like the only thing that has kept me going these last couple of weeks is their unwavering support. So we have paternity tests for each of the three done. Not only are none of them my biological children, together four of my children have three different fathers. Which somehow made it worse. It's like, she wasn't just having an ongoing affair, she was having multiple?
I can't explain how this makes it worse, but it just does. So I confront my wife with this, expecting her to confess and beg for forgiveness. She doesn't confess. She doesn't even take it seriously. She says the tests must be flawed. All four? How the heck am I supposed to take that seriously? I keep bringing it up and she keeps brushing it off, getting progressively more annoyed at me.
When I bring it up, she will try and guilt trip me. "We've been together since high school, do you seriously not trust me?" etc. But how am I supposed to trust her in the face of such overwhelming evidence?
47. The Other Woman
I cheated on my ex not too long ago with a supervisor from work. I never really thought much about her except that she was cute. She invited me to her Halloween party. I was tipsy, but I’m not the type to use that as an excuse. She denies it, but I felt like the whole night was set up for her and me to hook up together. I noticed she kept bumping into me and I finally decided to follow up on my suspicions by subtly rubbing her back.
She kept trying to get some of us to watch a movie. She and I finally did and we didn’t take long to get to her room. We hung out the entire next day together at her place. I fessed up to my girlfriend and after a week or so, I decided to choose my supervisor over her. But there’s one thing that still haunts me. I'm still not sure if I made the wrong choice. Sometimes it still feels like I did...I keep wanting to call my ex because I miss her.
48. Attention-Seeker
I’m a nurse and working 50-ish hours a week in pediatric ICU. I cry at least once a week because that stuff is hard. My salary pays our bills. All of them. My husband has a degree but isn't looking for a job. He works two days a week at the grocery store. Spends most of his time playing video games. Today was supposed to be A Good Day.
I had been begging my husband to swap his Saturday shift to literally anything else so that we could have days off together. We haven't had a weekend together since our wedding 18 months ago. Today was supposed to be our first Saturday off together. We were going to go to an animal sanctuary. He starts the day by going to breakfast with his best friend.
He left before I even woke up. I wake up around 9 and realize he is not home. I call. He says he's helping his friend set up some lights and that the weather is too rainy for the animal sanctuary anyway. He gets home at 1ish. Lies around. Plays some video games, promising we would cook dinner together tonight. Leaves again at 5:00 to help the same friend with something else.
I go grocery shopping. I don't drive because of medical issues, but I walk there and back in the rain. I get home, realize I've left my keys inside. Call my husband, knowing he's five minutes away. He says he will leave in a minute. I sit in the rain and the cold. 45 minutes later, I call again. He hasn't left yet. He finally agrees to come and let me in the house, so he drives up, presses the clicker to let me in the garage, and leaves again.
At 10, I called to see where he is. His friend answers. His friend says he is driving out to do something an hour away. It's 10.30. I am going to bed. I have sent him a text that I am upset and don't want to speak to him tonight and would rather he leave me alone. As far as I am concerned, if he can't value me more than his best friend on the first day off he and I have shared in a year and a half, he can go sleep in his friend’s bed instead.
49. Look At What I Have!
Lady stayed the night for the first time then started taking pictures of my house the next morning and posting them on social media. She put my bedroom, living room, and master bath on and I was like...what are you doing. She said, "I want everyone to see your place." I said, "Uhh, let me take you home." I also told her I didn't like that she did what she had done.
What she took away from this became obvious pretty soon. She complained on social media how I was so petty for not liking her posting my house. Then she called me up to go out again! I was just astonished that she thought I would be like “post my house, speak ill of me, and come on back.” That was one night...NOPE.
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50. The Truth Comes Out
My ex and I were together for five years. I decided to propose, but she rejected me. The next day, we had a talk. She realized that she was gay, since "I've been trying too hard to please myself with men." We broke up. The very next day, I get bombarded with text messages. My friends asked if this was true, and they linked me to a post.
It was a Facebook post “exposing” me about me cheating. (I did not cheat on her. I did sleep with someone else the day we broke up). She said that's why we broke up. Now, I usually am not evil, but this ticked me off. She was destroying my reputation for God knows what reason. I simply commented that the real reason that we broke up was that she is gay.
People didn't believe me…until my ex literally screamed at me for outing her. Then a lot of people started to call her out for her lies. I know I'm probably a huge jerk. Though I feel like she deserves it.
51. By Any Other Name
My wife and I have been married for four years and we have a two-year-old. We dated on and off for three years before getting married. Last night, I got the shock of my life. She said her ex’s name while we were getting it on. When I noted it, she gave some weird excuse as to why. She said it’s a common name (it is a very common name) and she must have heard it recently.
I wasn’t going to start a big argument with her at that time. But it has since gotten me worried about why she did that. For some background, this was a guy she was with for a couple years before I met her. They met in college and were serious for some time. They had broken up when I met her and decided they were better as friends.
They were friends for years before they dated. We started dating, but he remained in the picture. He was her best friend first and foremost and I grudgingly went along with it for her. But several months passed, and I put my foot down, saying it was too uncomfortable for me. There was some resistance, but she stepped back from him. But there was one big issue.
Every time we broke up, she was with him. We finally reconciled and got engaged. He apparently didn’t know this and stopped talking to her. She was devastated at the time, which should have been a red flag, I now see. At the time, though, we talked about it and she was happy to have chosen me. Now after this has happened, I’m tempted to see if she’s gotten back in contact with him again.
I know she’s checked in on his social media because I saw the searches on our laptop. She doesn’t know I know that. I don’t think she’d cheat, but this guy was always different for her.
52. No Regrets
My ex-husband cheated on me multiple times. I had resigned myself into thinking this was just how life was. After 11 years, I finally thought to myself, "Let me just see if it’s really me who's void inside or if he's the cause of that empty feeling." I made a profile on a cheating site and within 24 hours, this one guy messaged.
He and I had an instant connection—very similar interests, personalities, backgrounds, etc. I was able to feel things again and I decided I couldn’t live such an empty life. So I asked for a divorce. The guy I had the affair with was amazing and while it didn’t work out romantically, he is still my best friend. We have talked daily for the past two years and I’m currently dating a sweet guy who also gives me the feels.
I will say, in no way do I regret my affair. It was honestly the best thing for me and it helped me get out of my horrible situation.
53. Performative Dating
This issue is honestly making me frustrated. Almost everyone is saying I am in the wrong, people are talking behind my back and I genuinely don't know if what I did was correct or not. I just feel so lost. I am 17 and suffered a major accident while cycling when I was 13. I have two really deep, long facial scars. I have been bullied really bad because of it.
I am tall, ugly, and intimidating to most girls. But there is this girl I had known since middle school. Let's call her Becky. I had a really, really big crush on her until a few days ago. I thought she was genuinely sweet and amazing. My family is incredibly supportive so they urged me to ask her out. I can play a guitar so I made this whole song for her. I went to the neighboring city to get her favorite chocolate and stuff like that.
This was the first time I felt like really going and asking someone out in my life, and I felt that regardless of what I do, she will see me for who I am and at least accept me as a friend. I was over the moon when she ended up accepting me. We went to a fancy restaurant, had a fun time together, and walked for 30 minutes. She was really sweet to me.
The next week or so was honestly heaven. People started noticing me, even her friends seemed friendly with me, I honestly cried every day because I felt so fortunate to get so much love. Then it all broke down. A friend of hers sent screenshots to me of her Instagram, and I honestly felt betrayed and disgusted. She had posts saying “Fulfilled his lifelong wish by being his Valentine's." 'Making his day by finally helping him interact with my friends,” “He is ugly but beautiful people accept ugly people,” “#uglypeoplematter,” etc.
Becky's friend then explained to me that she apparently wanted a good social media image and had thus asked all her friends to be kind to me and tolerate me until the first week of March. Then they were supposed to distance themselves from me. She apparently wanted to win some stupid “positive role model” award for her college application because she was lagging behind in community service and thought playing with my feelings for a few days wouldn't hurt.
I was in tears. My blood was boiling. And then I went and made what might have been a huge mistake. I researched about this award and found a Facebook page about it online. I wrote into them and explained the whole situation. She is apparently crying a lot because she received a message from the committee saying her nomination was withdrawn. I am now even more ostracized in school, but honestly I have no remorse whatsoever and feel far more satisfied.
54. Sporting Spirit
I dated a guy back in high school. I thought he was pretty awesome—he was one of the first guys that I dated that didn't dump me after a week. Well, after about 3 months of dating I, finally, went over to his house to spend time with him—it took a while to convince my mom to let me—and we were playing Super Smash Brothers.
I had already told him I was pretty decent at the game since I grew up with two older brothers and played it with them all the time. I beat this dude ONE TIME and I swear I've never seen a dude act like such a toddler. He screamed, threw his controller at the ground, and started cussing at me and the game. I grabbed my things and got out of there and never looked back.
55. Liar, Liar
I came home from work early and found female sneakers in the garage that weren't mine. At that point, I sort of already knew what I'd be walking into. My husband has recently become very fit and has been consistently going to the gym, during which he made a female friend who he even brought home for dinner last week. Yeah.
She's beautiful and thin and everything I am not, which instantly made me feel horrible. So, I talked to him about it. He encouraged me to build my confidence and reassured me he loved me and would always be loyal to me. I walked into the laundry room from the garage and sort of tiptoed around the house before going upstairs. That’s when I saw the sight that ruined my life.
They were getting intimate. In our bed. With a framed picture from our wedding above the nightstand next to it. I silently left the room and got back in my car with tears streaming down my face and drove to get food and just sat in my car. I’ve been crying since. It’s now almost 1am (I walked in on them at 7pm) and I've returned to the hospital.
He called me asking why I wasn't home and I told him my shift is extended but in reality, I'm laying in one of the on-call rooms bawling my eyes out. I feel so worthless and ugly and stupid. I don't even know how to proceed. On the one hand, I want to divorce him and never see him again, but on the other hand, I feel so gross and the self-loathing is getting too much right now.
56. Spicy Romance
I was really into reading romantic stories online for my daily self-improvement. I wrote a few myself and would even chat on the discussion boards. There was an older woman in her late 30s with whom I chatted, and I found out she worked near my apartment. We arranged to meet during her lunch break and I went to pick her up.
She was like, "Let's skip lunch and go back to your place." We did this a few times a week for a few months—until I found out the truth about her. She was married. Not happily, but still married. She eventually stopped calling me or messaging me for lunch dates, which was fine because I was not about to arrange any more of them for us anyway.
57. Survival Of The Fittest
She microwaved her travel coffee cup in my microwave and nearly set my kitchen on fire. It was clearly made of non-microwavable plastic and stainless steel. Lightning was forming in that microwave, as was pitch black smoke which began to pour out. She got annoyed at me for being upset by this and I then realized that this woman, despite being very attractive, kind, and usually good-hearted, lacked a survivable IQ and common sense.
Previous actions contributed to this final judgment but this action and lack of response to it sealed the deal for me.
58. Tickled Blue
I had already come close to dumping this guy a few times, but the moment that made me really kick him out was that one time he just wouldn't stop tickling me and I almost passed out. He already knew I don't accept tickling, but he kept on going until I had almost passed out, and I was literally fighting to get him off of me.
"Get out" was the first thing I said when I got my breath back.
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59. Cutting You Off
I realized he was trying to cut me off from my support network. It started off innocuous enough. He didn't like my two closest friends and would make remarks like, "Do we have to hang out with them? Can't we see some of your other friends," and I figured whatever, he doesn't have to like everyone. Then I realized, he liked anyone if I wasn't really close to them.
I also realized that he had started to act rude and crass around my closest friends but was nice and charming with other people. One night I told him I was going to hang out with my best friend alone and he went off and said she was a dog, she was trash, and I shouldn't waste my time. I told him he was a terrible person.
He threatened to break up with me if I didn't end my friendship with her, and I said that it sounded like a good idea. He went to my mom's house that night and poured some kind of sob story out to her to make her think I was a cold-hearted person who had broken up with him for no reason and to help him convince me to get back with him.
I told him I didn't need someone to control my life and I certainly didn't need him.
60. How Rude
My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for a year and we had a baby boy last week. I had a natural birth and my boyfriend was there throughout the whole process. I screamed A LOT, and each time I did, he whispered something awful to me. Things like, "Can you stop screaming, you're really embarrassing me."
I also threw up a few times and I saw him cover his face in shame. When I held the midwife's hand for comfort, he whispered, "Let go of her, stop being so embarrassing." He also said that my birthing position was embarrassing too, and called me a few vulgar names. I'm really upset about his behavior that day, especially when it was when I needed his support the most.
When I try to talk to him about it, he denies ever saying it and that I'm being silly...I tried asking him about couple’s counseling, but he refused. My mom has agreed to let me stay at hers until I can find a new place for myself and the baby. I haven't said anything to him yet about splitting up; I've been advised not to so I am still planning out how I am going to take the next step.
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61. Lesson Learned
In high school, I had a girlfriend who was as sweet as can be. I cheated on her with one of the popular girls at my school. I thought it was going to be a new relationship, but I was so wrong. It was just a fling. The popular girl ended up using me and then moved on. I ended up confessing to my girlfriend and her heart was broken.
Her mom yelled at me. I couldn't even talk to her after I broke her down. The feeling of being THAT guy was painful. I hated it and I never want to be that again. Nowadays, I'm too empathetic to betray someone I truly like. Her pain hurt me so much that it is a lesson I will never forget. I have been cheated on since, so I guess that's my karma.
Instead of revenge cheating, I just end the relationship right there.
62. Just My Type
My boyfriend, who is 29, admitted that I am the oldest girlfriend he's ever had. I am 21 years old. He then nonchalantly admitted to dating a 15-year-old when he was 27 and a 17-year-old when he was 28 before he got with me. Now I want to break up with him. It has been a difficult time to be honest, my world has been turned upside down and I have been reeling from everything that happened.
I had been staying over at his place for the week and when I woke up from what I could only describe as a depression nap, he was already in his home office working. I took the opportunity to pack my things and brace myself for what I was about to do. A part of me was still very much in denial of him being a predator, so I opted to fix breakfast so that I could get him to talk about it more. His revelations were shocking.
I wanted to find out the true extent of these relationships. I brought up his ex while we were eating, and he was more than inclined to talk about her. She went to the same high school as his sister, and that’s how he met her. My now ex-boyfriend makes a 6-figure salary and he drives a really flashy car, which he says was the reason she approached him, "to check it out."
He continued to insist that she threw herself at him, and used him for his money when they finally got together. I asked him about the girl’s parents, and he said he met them and that they clearly didn't like him, but "as long as their daughter was happy, they were alright with it." That particular line did me in, but he harped on.
He talked about how the dad never let him near his other kids and how much convincing it took for her parents to finally be all right with her sleeping over at his place. He says that they broke up because she found someone wealthier and she dumped him. He apparently met the second girl, the 17-year-old, online. I asked for specifics.
He said she lied about her age on Tinder because she was turning 18 soon anyways, and they just "clicked." However, he was only looking for a rebound, so they didn't "really date," they just "screwed" (his exact words). That apparently lasted a month until she dumped him as well. When I asked him if he prefers girls in that age range, he said, "Yes, but obviously I want a more mature woman to grow old with."
He then looked at me as if that statement was supposed to somehow reassure me, or make me feel better. I couldn't act passive anymore after that and I told him I do not think I am the woman he is going to grow old with. An argument ensued and he told me I was a "horrible lay anyways" and "How dare you accuse me of such a horrible thing, you're sick," when I told him his proclivity for young girls was not normal and it might do him some good to get help for it.
I grabbed my bags and drove back to my apartment. Hindsight truly is 20/20 because so many red flags are glaring me in the face. I am petit (5'4, 120lbs) and he always liked how small I was. He constantly commented on it. There were a few times where he told me I remind him of his ex and even though it made me feel uneasy, I just dismissed it as him having a “type.” I also didn't know at the time that she was a teenager.
He has been insistent on me moving in with him and quitting my job because he makes enough money for both of us to live comfortably and he made it sound so romantic. I was genuinely considering it, and I think he might have been trying to isolate me, as he already didn’t like most of my friends. He was also very emotionally manipulative.
All the times he has ever guilt-tripped me or used the things I told him in confidence against me, all came rushing into my mind. I am starting to see how far from perfect our relationship was, and I am sick to my stomach thinking about it all. I do not know how I can possibly stop him from doing this to someone else because I have no evidence and I am afraid my claims will be dismissed if I report him.
I am also concerned about how this will affect the victims in this case. Is it really all right for me to report something on their behalf?
63. Where My Heart Leans
My co-worker introduced me to her single friend, and I eventually married her. But the entire time, I was hiding something. I was more interested in my co-worker. At some point, I let her know that, and we started an affair. It went on for a few years. Hotels, training rooms, quiet rooms, vehicles...it was amazing. But as time went on, I started feeling pretty guilty.
The pandemic ended up coming at a good time because it forced me and my co-worker to separate from each other for a little while. My wife still doesn't know.
64. Parental Supervision
I was at his house on our third date and his dog wanted me to throw the ball. I did. On the second time that it hit the wall he raised his voice and told me if I did it one more time, I was repainting the wall (You are not my father!). He was already on tenuous ground because of the way our second date had gone. To be clear, it wasn’t that great.
On that date, he went with me to my daughter’s recital. And, on the way home, said daughter was all excited and talking. He looked at her and said, “Do you ever be quiet?” Not gonna work out buddy.
65. Doggone It
I have an 11-year old senior German Shepherd. He was hit by a car in 2018 and we went through a very difficult recovery process. He had seizures, urine issues, and a constant fear of anything going fast near him. Like, I couldn't throw a ball anymore. We actually got another puppy, but our senior was so stressed we had to re-home her.
You would have sworn he was displaying rescue dog behavior, but he was just scared. Well, he's moved past all of that now and I'm so proud of him. The vet prescribed zoniamide for his seizures and so far he's been recovering well. My vet and I were discussing ways to improve his "mobility." It’s like a walking cane, but for dogs, and it has sensory objects on the end to prevent him from bumping into furniture.
We tested it in the office and his mood improved instantly, but at that time I couldn't afford more treatment for him so I opted to come back. So I met this guy named Dan earlier this year while walking my dog. He's known since day one that my dog requires special treatment, and that I would absolutely provide what he needs.
Everything went well at the beginning. Until one day I got too comfortable. We were talking about finances and I told him about my debt and the money I was saving up for my dog. After paying off the debt from his previous treatments, I didn't want to open another card so I started saving cash in a little fireproof chest.
Well, Dan took it from me. Yesterday, I went to his place and I noticed he has a new setup. I was asking him where he got the money from, and his response sent a shiver down my spine. We fought, he admitted what he did, and then he said, "He's half gone anyway, you need to let go." My dog is not even close to passing. He's a little older, but he's nowhere near that age.
We go to the veterinarian regularly and everything checks out as well as it can be given in his circumstances. No one has ever mentioned euthanasia; we've only been looking at the future and improvements. We're both students, so I don't want to ruin his future but that was for my baby to get what he needed so he can walk around my home comfortably.
66. A Hoarder's Secret
I was stuck in a non-physical marriage with a hoarder who didn’t keep up with house repairs. I spent four months drinking bottled water because the well wasn’t safe enough to use. I couldn’t get out because I was 20 kilometers from anywhere and the car that I was given didn’t run. My co-worker usually picked me up for work, or I walked to the closest carpool lot.
I eventually cracked under the stress of loneliness when my coworker told me he found me attractive. Turns out, my ex was really, really closeted. I wasn’t running on all cylinders after all that either. He’s got a roommate now, the house is fixed, I’m still with my co-worker after 10 years. We all get together every so often.
67. Business As Usual
She got unreasonably aggressive and angry over a game of Monopoly. I dislike the game anyway but went along with it because it was something she wanted to do, but I didn’t really know the rules. She shouted at me when I did anything ‘wrong’ in the game, or anything she didn’t think made sense, to the point where I said, “Is this supposed to be fun?”
She said, “Yeah, it’s a great game.” So, I shot back, “No, I meant this relationship.” It had only been a month or so, so it was an easy out.
68. The Sad Truth
I've been dating this girl for over five years, and she's very special to me. Even at this point, I can't help but hope she's not too worried about why I've been acting so oddly. I honestly was planning to marry her sometime in the future as soon as we settled into our adult lives. But fate had to go and throw a massive wrench in my plans.
One day, we were chilling at her house when I asked her if she could send me the funny picture she took earlier that day of one of our puppies. She was busy on her computer, so she told me to just grab her phone to send it to myself. When I went into her phone gallery I noticed a "hidden" folder, which I hadn't seen before.
Out of curiosity, I opened it. I immediately regretted looking at it. It was filled with naked pictures of her, most I've already seen. Some of which, however, she's never sent to me before. I thought maybe she was stockpiling for whenever I asked for any…I soon found out how wrong I was about that one. I clicked on a video.
It was an intimate bedroom tape from the POV of the guy, but the thing is—I don’t remember filming it. It 100% wasn’t me, and it was a recent video. For the last five years, we've had a few shares of fights, but nothing too serious. She'd always make me feel loved and I could tell she really cared about me. Or at least I thought she did.
After I returned her phone to her, I quickly got up and went home. I couldn't stay there any longer. And now I'm here. I don’t really know what to do. I'm planning on confronting her and breaking it off, but right now I'm just in shock. Five years down the drain, and I feel like I just lost my best friend. I'm not really sure how to feel. I can't think straight.
69. The Encourager
She started telling me about relationship troubles. We grew closer over time, sharing our insecurities with one another and whatnot. Eventually, we developed feelings for each other, on which we could not act...but eventually, those feelings became too strong and we caved. It lasted for one and a half years.
I tried not to commit to this new thing we developed, but I could not completely let go and neither could she. She jumped between me and her partner. Eventually, I realized my commitment to her was unhealthy. And I realized (too late) that I didn't want to be the person that made someone else cheat.
70. All In The Family
My wife and I have been together since high school, and married for 10 years. My wife's best friend Megan and I work for the same company, though in different departments. So yesterday, she wanted to meet me after work and told me that she had to tell me something. I met her, and she immediately broke down and started crying.
I tried to console her and asked if something was wrong. That’s when she told me that my wife and her husband were having an affair. According to her, this affair has been going on for years—but that was far from all. She also told me that her husband was my three-year-old daughter's biological father. Apparently, she confronted her husband and he didn't deny anything.
Well, when I confronted my wife, she tried to deny everything. But when I told her that Megan told me about it, she broke down and started crying, too. I really don't know what to do. I mean, everything was a lie, right? My little girl Taylor is not mine and my wife blatantly faked everything for years. What do I live for now? I just don't know what to do.
71. Eyes Only On Me
He had already shown very jealous tendencies and had smacked me over the head because he thought I was looking at a guy. So, our relationship wasn't good already. One day, we were outside of his friend’s house and his friend asked how I was doing. He got mad at me for answering his own friend. I just got in my car and drove away.
72. Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover
So my good friend Aaron and his girlfriend Mary have been together for almost 7 years. They met in college and are in a very close relationship. Personally, I would call them extremely co-dependent. Neither of them really have any friends aside from each other, and she doesn't let him have guy friends. In fact, she doesn't let him do a lot of things.
He's not allowed to go out past 11, not allowed to drink or smoke, she has to approve of all of his friends, and he's not allowed to be alone with other girls. She's got this guy on a tight leash. The reason why they're still together is that Aaron is completely whipped, and to him she can do no wrong. He talks regularly about how amazed he still is that she finds him attractive.
He's a decent looking guy, but she's like supermodel level good-looking. They post cutesy couple photos every day—I’m pretty sure she makes him post them—and to everyone who sees them, they appear to be the perfect magical fairytale couple. But now I know the dark truth. A few weeks ago, he told my boyfriend and I that he was planning on proposing to Mary.
Of course, we congratulated him because he seemed super excited. Now here’s the issue: A few weeks prior to this, I hung out with a friend of Mary’s, Alison. Alison told me about a party they went to where Mary got drank too much and slept with her ex. After the party, they began hooking up regularly, and she had a threesome with him and a friend of his.
Aaron has no knowledge of these hook-ups. I told my boyfriend about it because he shares my friendship with both of them, and he believes that we need to say something, but I'm not so sure how to even go about that. It will destroy him, ruin their entire relationship, and maybe a friendship as well. However, I think in the long term he will be unhappy with a marriage where she's so controlling.
Not even that, but if she's completely okay with cheating on her long-term partner it will be the same once they're married.
73. Hungry For More
I start dating a girl who does this to me not only on the first date but several afterward. Initially, I assume she overestimates our appetites. On our first date, when we meet at the restaurant-bar, she suggests some appetizers which I was all for because this place makes great ones, but they are big. She picks about 4 appetizers.
I like them so I say, "Sure." Then the bartender asks if we want a main course too. She immediately orders a steak dinner. I am hesitant but still order fish and chips so as not to make her feel gluttonous. So, the big appetizers come out; we are sharing them and talking. After about twenty minutes, I'm full already and we haven't even put a dent in them.
The server brings the main courses out as she’s nibbling at a blooming onion. She says she’s not hungry anymore. I say, "I'm stuffed." She calls the bartender and asks for takeout boxes. They oblige us. We now have 5 styrofoam boxes stacked beside us in two bags and have another couple of drinks.
We'd been there 1-hour max when she says her mom is expecting her to pick up her five-year-old at 10pm. We had previously discussed the babysitting situation. The bartender asks if we are done and brings back the tab and slaps it down between us. I had gone into this fully expecting to cover whatever the cost of the meal and drinks.
However, she just stares into space as the bartender walks away. I see her going in her handbag and pulling out her phone and hear her saying, "Yes, ok I'll be there shortly. How was he?" To avoid any awkwardness, I reach for the tab. It is around $150 before tip; she's still on the phone glancing at me but not offering anything.
I start filling out the tab and make it for $190, since we had about 4 drinks each as well. He takes the tab and my debit card and returns smiling, thanking us. Having ended her call, she says she's gotta run. She grabs both the to-go bags and asks if I want anything from in there. I wouldn't have minded having my untouched fish and chips but had no idea which box within the bags was which.
So, I told her no. She says, “Thank you. Mikey and I will enjoy these tomorrow." She also thanks me for the date and says she'll call me the next day or that I could call her if I want so we could "do this again or catch a movie." Believe it or not, I actually go on another date with her at a Tiki bar on the beach a week later. She does almost the same thing again. I just shrug my shoulders. I should have noped out right there—but the worst was yet to come.
Then, she says, "Why don't we have the next date at my apartment in a few days?" I, as someone who likes to go out, agreed. On the evening of the potential hookup at her place, she texted her address. Right as I'm about to leave my place, she calls me and asks if I'd mind stopping by a specific store and grabbing her a specific bottle of red wine for us and also grab a pack of microwave popcorn for 'Mikey.'
Like a chump I say, I bring her her bottle, popcorn, and a 6 pack for myself. At her place, I go to put the drinks in the fridge and grab one and see the cleanest, emptiest fridge I've ever seen. Except for some juice boxes, there is nothing at all in there. We start watching some movie she picked for her son since it wasn’t his bedtime yet.
She eats most of the popcorn and then suggests ordering Chinese food from one of the more upscale places. I agree, assuming since she had invited me, that she probably was going to get the food she suggested. Eh nope. I end up paying. When the food arrives, she rushes to the door. There was so much food we could have fed five adults.
She makes him a little plate with like an egg roll, etc. He's still watching his movie and we attempt to eat whatever we could. Again, we hardly put a dent in it and into the fridge it goes "for tomorrow." It's about 9pm now and she says goes to put her son to bed in his room. She, later, joins me on the balcony where we take a few puffs and I'm enjoying the buzz.
Then, she hides the bag up in a hanging plant and tells me that her dad pays half the rent and she can't get caught with ashtrays or empty beverage bottles as he has a key and is known to show up at any time. I thought this was odd coming from a 28-year-old independent woman but whatever. 30 minutes later her son is back outside.
She goes to put him to sleep and asks me to wait. I wait a half hour. Then, I open the sliding glass door quietly to get the last of my drinks from the fridge and pass the kid's room. The door is half open, and I hear nothing so I lean in and see that she is passed out on her son’s bed. Her son is sleeping too. Bored and tired, I lay down clothed on the couch, shoes off, and pull this tiny kids’ sheet over me. I didn't want to risk driving after the 6 pack.
The next morning, she wakes me up and apologizes for passing out, surprised that I hadn’t gone home. I told her I didn't want to drive after drinking and assumed she meant it when she asked me to wait for her. She actually has coffee and makes it. We have it out on the balcony again while her son is watching cartoons.
She goes to get another cup and exclaims as she bends down to where she'd been standing the night before. She picks up a pea-sized piece of what she had offered me last night off the carpet, comes back out and, holding the crumb, asks, "How did this get there on the carpet?” I'm confused about why she's asking me and say it may have fallen out when she packed the bowl the previous night.
She hems and haws, acting as though she thinks that I helped myself. I am insulted and tell her I'm no thief. I am about to go and she concedes that she may be wrong and that she sometimes jumps to conclusions. I tell her that she definitely jumped to an insulting conclusion and that I am not impressed with the accusation.
The UNBELIEVABLE next part. I stand up, grab my keys to go when she comes out with, "I thought maybe you and I and Mikey would spend the day at the park today since it's Saturday!" No apology, no thanks for the excessive meals, drinks, and movies. She actually goes from accusing me of theft to saying she thought I'd want to spend the day with her and her kid.
I realized I was dealing with some kind of greedy narcissistic nut and told her, "Enjoy your day." I am noping outta there for good. She follows me to the door and says, "Call me later, babe?" Yeah right! As if that would happen. She texted me saying that she hoped to see me again, and that it was a misunderstanding yet did not apologize.
Before the "Grand Finale" event at the end, we had gone on a few more similar dates, and I noticed that in every bar-restaurant that we went to the staff would grin at her and clearly knew her. This was probably her modus operandi.
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74. Sibling Rivalry
Me and my girlfriend have been going out for eight and a bit months. We didn't sleep together straight away and first did it only a few weeks ago. I was a virgin before that, so I'm not experienced at all, and so far I haven’t been able to, you know, satisfy her. Now, the kicker is that before dating me, my girlfriend was dating my brother.
It was awkward at first, but we're all okay now. Anyway, so last night I tried my best to get her there but in the end she told me to "just stop," so I did. Then she said something that made my stomach drop. "Your brother turned me on so much more than you do." I was so shocked by her saying that, I didn't know what to say back.
She got dressed and left the house and we haven't spoken yet. I just feel so confused about how I feel. I know I'm not as attractive as my brother, but I didn't think she would say that. Am I just being a baby and getting upset over nothing? I understand she's probably fed up and she might have just said it in the moment.
75. The Other Guy
I met the wife of a guitarist in a relatively famous band from the early 2000s and I was strung along with the "I don't want to be with him" promises. It built me up into a jealous man that I promised I'd never become. It was an absolute trainwreck and the whole thing felt very dirty and degrading. They're not together anymore and she ended up with one of the four guys she was cheating on him with.
She even had a kid with him, but I guess he doesn't know...Or he does, but too much time has passed for him to care. I don't really know him. That entire situation sent me into a spiral of relationship issues that take heavy management. I've been "the other guy" a handful of times, but this one really messed me up for a long time.
76. Be My Valentine
I was about to propose to my girlfriend of seven years, but then I discovered something. For the past seven years, we've been really, really happy together. She's sweet, loving, and caring. She's close to my family, and me to hers. We are really connected to each other, same passion, same likes and dislikes, we frequently travel together and all that.
We rarely fight, and when we do, we resolve issues quickly. It's like a perfect relationship. We've been steady, we're genuinely happy in love. Except just when I was contemplating proposing to her, I feel like she's gone cold for the past month. Just this past Valentine’s day, we were on top of the world surprising one another with gifts and sweet nothings.
But the following weeks felt different. Her "I love yous" weren't as enthusiastic. The way she talks and communicates with me feels different. She easily gets upset over trivial things. She seems to be a different person all of a sudden. I actually asked her what was wrong, but she assured me everything was ok and something was just bugging her.
I asked again but it seemed like she didn’t want to open up. She assured me though that she loved me very much. Then, just recently, like four days back, I was reminded that she has a spare phone just sitting in my drawer, though it was out of batteries. So I grabbed a charger, booted it up…and it just so happened that her Google account was still logged in on the device.
Curious, I went to see what she's been up to lately—then I discovered her recent searches. They shocked me. The searches go like this: “I cheated on him,” “I cheated on him many times,” “I cheated should we break up,” “Breaking up a long term relationship,” and so on. The searches were dated just after Valentine’s day and onwards.
Almost every day she looks at the same searches and other related topics. I am devastated discovering this. I cannot eat, I cannot sleep. But I haven't confronted her about this. We are currently far apart now due to work, but we will be seeing each other next week. I am confused, I am in shock, and I just don’t know how to react.
77. It’s Just A Little Warm
We were not in a relationship officially, but I had been getting to know a girl in one of my classes back in college, and we were starting to get pretty close. One day before class I was reading an article about Global Warming and she rolled her eyes and said, "Ugh, you don't actually BELIEVE in that stuff, do you?" I don't think I've backed off from getting to know someone so quickly.
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78. The Eye Of The Beholder
I’ve been with my boyfriend for two years, and I thought he was attracted to me, all of me. He’s never called me ugly and always compliments me with or without makeup. That all changed last night. He brought his friends over. I’m cool with them, but we’re not that close so usually when they do come over to play video games, I go upstairs.
That night when I was walking past the room to the bathroom, I could hear my name. The door was closed but I stopped to listen. I know eavesdropping is wrong, but c’mon, they said my name! I heard one of my boyfriend’s friends say that they hate that I always leave when they come because I wear shorts and a tank top around the house.
Meanwhile, I usually dress more conservatively when I’m around them in social settings. The friend went on to say that I have a big butt and nice chest, but I’m a “butterface” without makeup. And my boyfriend laughed! LOUDLY! He didn’t even defend me! His reply was somehow even worse than all that: “Her body is perfect.”
What?! They moved onto a different topic and started talking about other girls, so I gave up on listening and went back upstairs. I don’t think I’m ugly, but I did cry. I’m ashamed to say my self-esteem took a hit but it did. It hurt worse to know that my boyfriend laughed and didn’t defend my looks. I won’t lie and say I’m the best supermodel, but I’m not ugly!
I have shoulder-length brown hair, clear skin, and my features are decent. Maybe my eyebrows could be less sparse and I wear glasses, but I would give myself a solid 6/10 without makeup and maybe a 8 with? Maybe I’m just delusional? I felt sick sleeping next to my boyfriend and wouldn’t let him touch me. He’s attracted to my body and not my face and I hate myself low key.
79. Crossed Wires
I received a message that clearly wasn't meant for me. We just had our first date which went really well. The message was calling me cheap and a slimeball and how I'm on my absolutely last chance to make things right on her upcoming birthday with lots of presents. I replied, "Hi, this is X. We just met and had one date. Was that message for someone else?
She replied pretending to be her 12-year-old sister. Then, apparently, her dad messaged me with how he's told off his younger daughter. I'm out!
80. Thou Shall Not Covet
My youngest brother has been staying with us. My wife and I have a 5-bedroom home but currently don't have children yet, so we let him stay here. My brother has always been...different. He's a bit of a loner and doesn't have a lot of friends outside of his online group. He's a shy, geeky kid but he's otherwise all right when you get to know him. Or so I thought.
So here's what happened. The wifi doesn't quite reach my brother's room, so he usually does his school work and other stuff in the dining room. A few nights ago, I was walking to the fridge after waking up in the middle of the night, and saw my brother working on something. As I got closer, my jaw dropped. I saw a very compromising picture of my wife; a cleavage shot as she was gardening.
He noticed me and quickly closed the window like he had something to feel guilty about. I was too shell-shocked to say anything at the time and he just smiled awkwardly and ran to his room with the laptop. When I realized that something was up, I knew I had to find out more. The next day, I asked my brother to pick up some groceries and some lunch for us.
While he was away, I went to his room and, well, it wasn't pretty. I saw a couple of my wife's bras and some of her panties, which I can only assume he used to pleasure himself. I took his laptop and screw it, decided to snoop. I knew his password, and it was there that I saw some of the most sickening entries I've read.
There were pictures of my wife in a towel, her working out, her in compromising positions, etc. All taken without her consent by the looks of it. The creepiest part? He sometimes listens in on us when we sleep together. My wife can be a bit loud, but we didn't think it would be a problem since his bedroom was in a different part of the house.
I left the room feeling like I needed a shower. It was absolutely disgusting. Now I don't know what to do. I find myself fighting the urge to pummel him into next week every time I see him. I haven't told my wife yet because I'm 100% sure she will feel violated and disgusted, so I want to find the best solution first before doing so.
I so desperately want to kick him out but he has nowhere else to go. Even if I do, what should I tell my parents? The truth? This will most likely break the family apart. I do plan on telling my wife soon but if I do, I can almost guarantee she would want nothing to do with him and would never want to visit the family if he's around.
I'm so lost right now. Still fighting the urge to beat my brother to a bloody pulp.
81. Game Over, Man
My fiancé and I got engaged in December last year. In January this year, we both together decided to save money every month for our wedding and honeymoon. In six months, we saved around $8,000. Last month, my fiancé's best friend bought a new gaming PC, so my fiancé also wanted to buy one. He asked me about it, but I denied it because we both already had laptops.
I told him that he can play games on the laptop that he already has. He repeatedly kept asking me if he could buy a PC and I finally agreed to it. Now I regret it so badly. After a week, the PC finally came…along with a new table and chair. Apparently, he had ordered a gaming chair and a table as well. That night, I asked him how much it all cost.
He was a little hesitant to tell me. After a while, he told me and I was distraught. He had spent our entire savings of $8,000 to buy the PC. We had a very big argument that night and I scolded him for spending all our savings. After all, that savings contained not only his money but my money as well. And we were saving it for our wedding.
After everything I told him, his final reply was, "I will earn it all back soon." I don't trust those words at all. I thought nothing worse than this could happen, but it has. It has been about two weeks since he got the PC and since then, my fiancé hasn't gotten up from his new chair. Ever since he got the PC, he hasn't even seen my face.
The only time he talks to me is when he is hungry, and he calls to me and tells me to get him something to eat or drink. I call him to watch TV and he says he's busy. I call him to sleep together and he says that he'll sleep later. He plays games the whole night, sleeps at 5 am and wakes up at 2 pm. Basically, he's asleep when I'm awake and he's awake when I'm asleep.
For the past two weeks, I've been so lonely that it feels like I'm alone at home with nobody to even talk to. He is ignoring me so much that I think he has absolutely forgotten that I even exist in his life. I honestly feel like his waitress nowadays. He has also 100% stopped doing all the household chores, and it's getting very hard for me to do it all alone.
He is barely even brushing his teeth and taking a bath, let alone doing the house chores. Also, ever since the PC arrived, he hasn't even touched his laptop to work, and he isn't checking his phone to see if someone has sent him something work-related. I'm now genuinely afraid that he might lose his job. Everything that is happening right now is so bad, I called my parents and told them about it last night and they almost had nothing to say.
I'm thinking of calling his parents tonight and telling it to them, and maybe they can knock some sense into him. I honestly don't know what else to do now. I want to burn that PC.
82. Buckle Up
My wife works as a flight attendant and is often doing long journeys to other countries. Our second anniversary was last week and she was not going to be home for it, so I decided to give her a surprise card and one of a few gifts. However, I was going to bury it in her luggage suitcase before she was about to leave. That’s when I found them.
They were new-looking white lace lingerie pieces that I have never seen before, as well as a pair of heels that I do know because I got them for her. As soon as I saw them, there was a ringing in my ears and it felt like the world had come to a halt. I have been trying to come up with reasonable explanations as to why she would have that, but none of them are in character for her as far as I am aware.
That's why now I am fearing the worst—infidelity. She doesn't know I saw it because I didn't leave the gift and card, but she has been back home since then and gone again. I am going crazy with the thoughts of her with another man, but I don't have concrete proof. I don't know how I'd even get solid evidence to come to her with.
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83. Blood Under The Bridge
When I was 23 (five years ago), I was engaged to Ryan. Our engagement ended when my stepsister Kelly begged me to leave him. Her reason why was disturbing. It was because she slept with him and they loved each other, but Ryan was too afraid to break up with me because he didn’t want to hurt me or my family. When I confronted Ryan about it, he denied it.
He said Kelly had been trying to come on to him for some time and he never mentioned it because he didn’t want to ruin our relationship. He begged me not to believe her, and so we continued how we were. Kelly grew resentful and made nasty comments about how I was forcing a man who didn’t even love me to marry me because I had low self-esteem.
A month later, she sent me a video that ruined my life. It was of them getting it on in my bed, and multiple screenshots of him telling her he loved her, how he wished she was the girl he was marrying, how he hated that I wouldn’t let them be together. I was devastated and angry, but my best friend convinced me not to go nuclear on them.
Instead, I quietly moved out when Ryan was at work the next week. I contacted my dad and my stepmom and asked them if I could move in temporarily. I removed the money I had contributed into our joint account for wedding expenses and transferred the rest to him before closing the account. Once I got settled in, I sent all of the screenshots she sent me to all of our relatives and his.
Ryan tried to get back together with me multiple times, but I ended up blocking him after I found out even worse news. I discovered he had proposed to her with the same ring he gave me. Now, Kelly is my stepsister from my mom’s side. I have another stepsister and stepbrother from my mom’s second marriage, as well as a half-sister.
They all went to the wedding. Whenever I tried to express that I was hurt by the fact they were just supporting Kelly/Ryan as though what they did to me meant nothing, they would shrug it off and say they couldn’t cut them off completely because they were family. I haven’t spent a single holiday with my mom’s side since, and neither has my older biological brother or sister.
I only see my mom and half-sister when I invite them over to my place, as Kelly/Ryan moved in with my mom and my stepdad a year after they got married. Our relationship is very rocky, but I’ve grown closer to my dad/stepmom and their children, who have all been very supportive since this all happened, so it’s not all been bad. But fate just dealt me another curveball.
On New Year’s Day, my boyfriend (now husband) proposed to me. We had a small engagement party, which I invited my mom and half-sister to. They never turned up because I was “excluding half of our family.” I never invited my stepdad or stepsiblings because they were pretty hurtful when it came out that Kelly/Ryan were sleeping together.
They claimed it wasn’t their fault I got in the way of “true love” and made me out to be some sort of vindictive Disney villain for being angry with them. We were planning to have our wedding ceremony this summer, but in late February my husband suggested we postpone it until next year. I ended up finding out I was pregnant a month before our original wedding date, so we had a courthouse wedding on that date with the plan to hold the ceremony next year.
Only my dad’s side of the family were aware of both the pregnancy and the wedding. My stepmom likes to knit, so she’s been making some stuff for the baby. Recently, she posted about the things she had made on Facebook with a caption talking about how excited she was to have another grandchild soon. I was tagged in the post.
I have zero issues with the post. I never told my family I wasn’t going to inform my mom’s side. It wasn’t that I intentionally hid it from her, she just never seemed very interested in my life/relationship so I never brought it up. My mom called me an hour later to demand to know if I was pregnant and how she couldn’t believe I hadn’t told her she was finally going to be a grandmother.
She has since invited me and my husband over to her house multiple times. I’ve declined every single time for the obvious reason. My stepdad, who I’ve barely spoken to in 5 years, has reached out to tell me how excited he is to meet the baby and my husband, same with my siblings. Even Kelly reached out to my husband to congratulate us. I was furious.
The next time my mom and stepdad called me, I finally laid into them. I told them I didn’t want them to keep inviting me over when they knew I would be forced to see Kelly/Ryan if I came. I told them how hurt and angry I still am over what they did to me and how my “family” dismissed my feelings. I told them how they wouldn’t throw Kelly/Ryan away, but they were so quick to leave me out to rot.
All this while I was going through the worst betrayal I’d ever experienced in my life. I told them I wasn’t even sure I wanted people like them in my child’s life. My mom was crying and kept saying I was being cruel, and I couldn’t deprive her of her first grandchild. The thing is, my baby ISN’T her first grandchild. My sister has two adopted daughters already, who my mom doesn’t even try to bond with.
She kept wailing about how I might be the only person in our family to even give her grandchildren. My stepdad got angry and defensive. He claimed I was petty for holding onto something that happened five years ago. He pointed out how I had found someone else, so I should understand how love works and sometimes two people just can’t help themselves.
You love who you love, basically. He said Kelly/Ryan were happy together, so I should be happy for them the way they’re happy for me and my husband. The ironic thing is, my sister told me Kelly/Ryan looked like they were on the verge of divorce and they argue constantly. She says my siblings all hate him but pretend they like him for Kelly’s sake.
I ended up hanging up because I was so angry, and when I get angry, I start crying. I didn’t want them to think they got to me. Since then, I’ve been receiving texts and calls nonstop from my mom’s family. They’re all essentially telling me I should be over things already. It’s gotten to the point where my husband and I have switched phones so he can screen my messages for me, and I don’t have to read them.
84. Clean Demon
My wife suffers from intense germophobia and anxiety. We have been together for 11 years and married for eight. She has not always been like this; she was relatively normal while we dated, but it started to get so much worse after we got married. She previously worked at a hotel as a receptionist and was occasionally required to handle and wash guest towels. Well, she ended up contracting a staph infection and had to be hospitalized to have the infection drained.
Following this, she had to be on antibiotics for 30 days. Ever since that experience, her anxiety and fear of infection has steadily grown over the years up until this point. We also have two children—a two-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl—and her tendencies affect them, too. The following list is my attempt at a comprehensive germ-prevention "Standard Operating Procedures" of our household.
If I touch a light switch I need to wash my hands. If I touch a doorknob I need to wash my hands. If I go to the garage I need to take a shower before I can sit down or do anything. If I touch her pajamas or I touch towels then I need to take a shower. If I even enter the guest bathroom then I have to take a shower. If my kids enter the guest bathroom they have to have a bath. I am not allowed to use her toilet in the master bathroom.
She stops up her toilet every day and requires me to plunge and clean it (she uses 3x as much toilet paper as a regular person would). The cleaning process is 3 Clorox wipes—one for the seat, one for under, and one to use to flush it with. I have to immediately shower after this. If she spills excess water on the floor then I have to mop it up.
She goes through entire loads of her pajamas daily just trying to change her clothes. Every time she uses the toilet, she has to change her clothes. She washes her hands and arms up to her elbows and then her face. If she gets water on her shirt, she will change it. If, when putting on her shirt she touches it to her body, she will change it. If her pants touch the floor when she is putting them on, she will change them.
She discards the top shirts in her drawer every time she gets dressed. She uses 6-7 towels after a shower, discarding half of them because "they touched my chest." As you can see, this adds up and I end up folding laundry for 60-90 minutes every day. This doesn’t’ include the time it takes to actually change it out and take showers.
If I change out laundry and I graze the doorframe when I enter the bedroom with clothes, I have to discard ALL OF THEM. If an article of clothing touches the edge of the bed, discard it. If I even touch the dishwasher I have to wash my hands. If she takes a shower and gets in the bed, she will NOT leave the bedroom or she considers herself dirty and would have to shower again. This means if she is hungry or thirsty, I will bring it to her.
Her showers last around 40 minutes. She bathes 3-4 times and washes her hair 2 times. Our water bill is ridiculous. If my son takes one step outside of his playpen then he has to have a bath before he can go in his bed. This includes naps. If I take him outside (even just for 1 minute), he would need a bath before he can get in his bed. Not even changing his clothes would suffice.
When I clean the house, everything has to be done in a very specific order. No deviations from this order, or it has to be re-done: Change out laundry and leave washer free; Wash hands, face, and arms and change clothes; Sanitize all toys on floor and put away; Pick up all clothes and put in baskets; Sanitize all counters; Clean kids bathroom; Take out master bathroom trash, wash hands, replace bag; Take out kids’ trash, wash hands, replace bag; Take out kitchen trash, wash hands, replace bag; Clean guest bathroom, wash hands, take out trash, wash hands, replace bag; Take shower; Put bathroom rugs in washer; Take shower; Sweep entire house in a very specific order; Mop house in very specific order; Take shower.
I want to make this clear: I have no problem with cleaning, but I often do something in the wrong order or forget to wash my hands and I get berated. My wife has little patience for mistakes that involve germs. Often, I have to clean the house late at night after the kids go to bed so I will be doing it after midnight. Of course I will make mistakes when I am mentally exhausted.
If I bring her water, I have to wash my hands and then hold the cup over my head as it clears the kitchen counter. She thinks that if I hold her cup around my chest that it will touch the counter and be dirty. I do the same thing with plates and utensils. If I have to discard a piece of clothing on the floor in her vicinity, she will change her clothes and get angry.
She thinks that the air created when the clothing hits the floor will splatter bacteria all over her. This is perhaps the one that upsets me the most. If my dog gets out, he has to have a bath before he can come back. He gets out often because she won’t close the door. My wife will not touch doorknobs. She uses her foot to close the door and she will just leave it open over actually closing it—even when she leaves the house.
If I leave the house with my phone, I cannot bring it back into the house until I sanitize it. That includes washing the phone case with soap and water. No shoes on in the house, ever. I had contractors over a month ago and they wore shoes. Well, I had to sanitize every object they touched, and mop TWICE where they walked.
Her depth perception is abysmal. We get in so many fights because she thinks that I touched her with a dirty object when I was halfway across the room. When she gets dressed, I have to watch her and verify that she doesn’t touch her body with the outside of the shirt. Same with pants. We never have people over because of her fear of infection.
Plus, I am the one who has to clean and sanitize so I am reluctant to even mention hosting an event or having a party at the house. There are more things I have to deal with, but I cannot remember every situation right now. The worst of it for me is the constant laundry (3-4 loads a day, sometimes more) and showers (4-5 showers a day).
I have taken as many as 9 showers in one day and as many as 35 showers in one week. I wash my hands over 50 times a day. I have gotten to the point where I just pretend to take a shower or wash my hands if she isn’t in the room. I fantasize about just being able to get through my day not feeling like a puppet on a string.
I get no sleep (maybe 4-5 hours on average) and have almost no free time. And this is not because of my kids. You may be thinking, "Dude, go to marriage counselling." We did that about two months ago. My dad may be the only person who really knows what I am going through and he told me to be completely honest—hold nothing back. That is exactly what I did.
I told the counselor everything that I just revealed to all of you. I have had this talk with my wife already, but she says, "You can leave at anytime, if you can’t handle it you don’t have to be here." The counselor was speechless for a second, but then began to address my wife, asking her if it was all true. My wife just shut down and barely refused to acknowledge it.
After the session, my wife got upset at me for "throwing her under the bus" and canceled all future sessions. I want to say one last thing. Before she went deep into this fear of infection, we had a great relationship. We loved each other and felt we were meant to be. I still love her and want it to work. I have been dealing with the worst of this for nearly three years now.
I am physically and mentally exhausted. I have thought of leaving multiple times, but I am afraid of how it will affect my kids. We also bought a huge house and invested sums of money into it that we would lose. My wife refuses to take medication for her anxiety, though I don’t blame her; most of it hasn’t worked in the past.
I talked to my wife a few minutes ago and let her know exactly how I feel—again. She broke down, as expected, and ended our conversation before I could continue it any further. When I get home we will continue to address this.
85. Something Stinks
I have been with my boyfriend for over a year and everything has been great—except for one thing. Every single day, at least once, he will tell me that I stink and smell of B.O. When we met, I showered every day, applied regular deodorant in the morning, brushed my teeth three times a day. Now I am so paranoid about smelling bad that I shower at least twice a day.
I also apply new industrial-strength deodorant every few hours (I have a reminder on my phone), perfume, and I brush my teeth anytime I eat or drink something that isn’t water. I feel like I’m going crazy. I didn’t think I smelled bad in the beginning and I don’t think I smell bad now, but I obviously smell bad to him, right?
I’m that weirdo who keeps “sneakily” smelling their own armpits. I have been to the doctor and he has said there is nothing medically wrong. It has honestly gotten to the point where I literally shove my armpit in friends’ faces, asking if I smell bad. They all say I don’t smell like B.O. at all. One friend even said I smelled too clean, like a lush store.
I am getting so paranoid. He won’t cuddle or anything when he says I smell. Then something unexpected happened. I waited for him to make a comment this morning so I could talk to him. It was less than an hour after waking up that he said “god you stink,” even though I had already showered and put on deodorant. I snapped and asked what exactly was he smelling because, at this point I’m one of the cleanest people on the planet.
I said if I still smell bad to him, then we should just break up. He got all panicked and upset, and he made a mind-blowing confession. I eventually got it out of him that this is what his father always said to his mother. Apparently, his father told him that it was a sure-fire technique to have a woman never leave you because “she will feel too low to cheat, will love only you, and will always be clean.”
Needless to say, his father is wrong. He’s packing his things and moving out of my house today.
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86. Boxers Or Briefs?
My boyfriend and I have been together for three months. My sleepwear consists entirely of tank tops and underwear. I have underwear for during the day and for dates, which is primarily small and lacy, and then I've got women's briefs and men's boxers (usually a cotton blend) for sleeping. They're really comfy and really big.
I don't think they're ugly, they're just not very cute. Well, my boyfriend slept over last night and I went to get dressed for bed. As I pull out the briefs he goes "Do you have to wear those?" so I pull out the boxers. He says that's worse, and asks if I can wear some of my "nice" underwear to bed. I tell him that wearing lace all day and then overnight and again the following day is how you get yeast infections.
That just grossed him out. So I put them on and go to get into bed, and he asks me to take them off, not for intimacy, but just so I'm not wearing boxers to bed. I ask him what the big deal is anyway, and his reply made me so angry. “Forgive me for wanting to find you attractive." I don't know what to say to that but he rolls over, straight to sleep, no cuddling.
This morning I wake him, we kiss, I'm thinking it'll lead somewhere, but he touches my boxers, stops, gets dressed, and leaves. This is starting to affect my self-esteem just a bit. I'm only wearing them because they're comfortable and I don't want to buy all new stuff, but this is apparently a real turn off for him and it's causing problems. Oh, but it gets worse.
I texted him finally and straight-up asked what the issue was again. He thinks it's "gay." As a bisexual woman, I cannot see an alternative to breaking up with him right now.
87. Baby On Board
I am days away from giving birth and my boyfriend just decided to tell me that he can't be at the birth—because he's married. I'm just in shock right now. Like I almost feel numb. I was really happy and looking forward to the baby, and I just feel really sad right now so I need to take a breather. Everything is ready for the baby and I'm still excited to meet them, but Jesus.
So first off, he’s quite a bit older than me—I’m 23 and he’s 37. I know the age gap probably should've been a red flag, but I was stupid. We've been together for two years, but he lives in a different city. When I got pregnant, he said he was going to move to my city and we would move in together, and that he just needed to finalize some things with his ex-wife.
He told me he was divorced when we met and I never had any reason to question it. I knew that he had two kids with her as well. He told me the truth about that, just not that he wasn't divorced—or even separated. So fast forward, I'm 39 weeks and he suddenly got uncommunicative, which is less than ideal when you're literally about to give birth.
Bear in mind that he was supposed to have been fully moved in here a month ago, but he kept delaying. Today I found out I am going to be induced on Monday unless the baby decides to come out over the weekend, so I contacted him and I was like, okay, what's going on? And that's when he told me the horrible truth. That he isn't actually separated or divorced, that he never told his wife about anything, and how he felt like he was backed into a corner.
I don't feel sorry for him for that because that's his own fault, but obviously literally four days before giving birth isn't the time you want to get this news, and I have no idea what to do now.
88. Tinder For The Fire
My husband just messaged me on Tinder. I accidentally discovered he had Tinder on his phone, and I catfished him with a fake profile…and he messaged me. We've been together for 20 years and married for 15 years. I don't even know how to approach this with him without crying or screaming. I don't think I can trust him anymore.
89. Don’t Lose The Weight, Lose The Man
I’ve been dating my boyfriend for a year. I am 5”4’ and 125lbs. He pursued me. Slowly, though, he keeps making more and more negative comments about my appearance. He made me a workout and eating plan and constantly asks if I follow it. He basically wants me to go vegan. Honestly, I’m not into the vegan lifestyle and I don’t eat horribly.
When we ordered in yesterday I got baked ziti. He looked at me and said something horrible. He asked how I could be ordering this when we both agreed I need to lose weight. Every time I try to dump him over this, he tells me I don’t understand where he is coming from. He told me I’m average and he wants me to stand out.
He says that he noticed I have low self-esteem and he is trying to make me confident and be happy with myself. Every day, he asks me if I did my workouts. But that’s not the worst part. He will send me photos of other girls and say if I follow what he says I will look like that. He REALLY pursued me and now I feel like he’s ruining my self esteem.
Why pursue someone so hard if you aren’t that attracted to them? He told me if I lose 15 pounds, I’ll be perfect. He sends me pictures of women who have post pregnancy bodies or not good bodies at all and he tells me that they are like me, that they are chubby and not curvy. Or he will send me pictures of girls I don’t consider pretty and say if I listen to him I will look like that, I just need to lose weight.
I tell him I think I’m thinner than those girls and he tells me that he has better eyes.
90. Money Can’t Buy Class
My girlfriend and I have been together almost three years. 99% of the time, we're great. She's funny and smart and we have a lot of shared interests. But every time we visit her family, I start doubting everything. They are very wealthy, which by itself is not a bad thing, but they're also very fixated on being rich and have a habit of placing the monetary value of things (and people) over everything else.
I come from a very middle-class background. I have a good education and a decent career that I really enjoy, but I'm definitely not rich. Because of this, they view me as a loser. For example, yesterday we made the two-hour drive to her parents' in my new-ish Honda. When we got there, her mom immediately ordered me to park the car behind the house so the neighbors wouldn't see it.
She was furious we didn't bring my girlfriend’s Land Rover, which they bought for her as a birthday gift this year. The girlfriend doesn't like to drive on long trips and I'm not allowed to drive the Land Rover (per her parents) so we brought my Honda. Oh, but the plot thickens. My girlfriend’s dad has never spoken to me directly.
Even when she introduced me the first time, he turned to her and said, "What does he do?" So we went in the house and I gave her dad the usual, "Hi, merry Christmas" and he gave me the usual disinterested glance. One more example: Last year, I made the mistake of bringing a bottle of wine. It was a $25 bottle, which was pricey for me, and I even had the lady at the store help me pick it out.
My girlfriend’s mom told me to put it in the kitchen. They didn't open it while we were there, and she later admitted to my girlfriend that they'd re-gifted it to their housekeeper because it was "gas station hooch." We managed to get through the day yesterday without much drama except the car thing, which I'd normally consider a win.
But today I keep thinking about the whole situation with her family and wondering if I'm really willing to deal with these people for the rest of my life. My girlfriend and I have tossed around the possibility of getting married more than once, but I know they'll never accept me. If we get married, I'll have to see them a lot more than once a year.
My girlfriend has given up trying to defend me to her parents and just ignores them most of the time, but I can tell it bothers her, too. They bankroll a big chunk of her lifestyle and I think she's worried they'll cut her off if she pushes too hard—they've threatened to over other things. So am I wasting my time? Is this relationship doomed?
My girlfriend always tells me she doesn't care what her family thinks, but I'm not sure that's true. She always tries to downplay how mean they are to me. But I know I'll never be good enough for them, even if I'm good enough for her.
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91. Make Yourself At Home
Me and Erica dated for two years and have been engaged for the last four months. After we got engaged, Erica moved into my house. I still pay the mortgage while she pays for utilities, groceries, and household items. After we get married, the plan is to put her on the house so she gets equity as well. Her friend Leah and her have been best friends since high school.
I don’t particularly like Leah but have also been cordial as I know she’s going to be in my life. My issue is, Leah thinks of my home as hers. A couple of examples: She always brings her boyfriend over and he’s a sketchball. She talks to me in a very disrespectful way in my own house, like I’m a guest and she and Erica own it. One day, I went out to my garage and some of my tools were missing.
I checked my camera and Leah and her boyfriend were in my garage with Erica and took some tools with them. I asked Erica and she said they were just borrowing and would return them. I had to reach out multiple times for them to finally return the tools weeks later. Only, then she went from sketchy to stupid. I have a nice wine collection and I was working late one Friday. While working, I heard some clanking of bottles together.
Erica wasn’t home so I went out to see what was up. Leah was behind my bar. I asked what she was doing and she said that Erica told her it was okay to borrow a bottle for her party and that she would pay us back. I told her no, that wasn’t alright, and to leave. I asked Erica about this and she said “I don’t remember telling Leah she could take a bottle but I might have, I don’t remember.”
I told her at this point I wasn’t comfortable with Leah being in my house. Erica sort of understood but also blew me off. Then, the final straw. It came when I wanted to go hit some golf balls and my clubs were missing. I freaked out because I golf regularly and my clubs are my biggest investment. I went to check the camera again and Leah used my garage code and took the clubs.
I blew up, called Erica, and told her to get them back immediately. Erica said Leah had asked for the garage code to grab some clothes from her closet and not my clubs. I threatened to call the authorities but Erica stopped me. Leah kept telling us that her boyfriend needed them for a work thing. I got them back almost four days after they were taken and they were dirty.
At this point, I sat Erica down and told her that if I see Leah in my house again then I’m calling the authorities, no discussion. Erica got upset, saying that it’s her best friend and that wasn’t fair to do to her in our house.
I said it’s a pattern and since Erica’s stuff isn’t affected she doesn’t care. I said she can go over to Leah’s if she wants to see her. She said she can’t do this because Leah doesn’t like her apartment and Leah’s boyfriend is always there which makes Erica uncomfortable. I’m now getting the silent treatment and getting called a jerk but I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong.
92. Tales of the Underwear
My husband went to Hawaii for a business trip without me or the kids. Like a good wife, I packed his clothes before he left and unpacked his dirty laundry when he returned home. I found a tiny pair of white cotton panties (no lace) in his suitcase. He had recently dropped a lot of weight (more than 100 lbs.) and played it off that he had bought them for himself. They had no label and were simple bikinis so theoretically could have been men's as well.
It did sort of explain the pretty brunette that followed him off the plane at the airport and kept looking at my kids and I at the luggage carousel (what a jerk to make his side piece come face to face with his wife and kids). But at least I got an ingenious revenge. I made sure he wore those panties at least once a week for the remaining few months we were together. I set out his clothes every day and he couldn't protest.
93. So Much for the Language of Love
My friend seemed to have it all. But there was one problem: No matter what he said, his beautiful French wife refused to speak English when her family was over. Instead, they would just speak in French the entire time while he sat by, not understanding a word. He started to get suspicious, so he recorded their conversation and got it translated—that tape was absolutely heartbreaking. The entire family was insulting him whenever they came over. It was absolutely brutal.”
94. A Matter of Trust
My sister was only married for two weeks. Originally, she was married to a really crazy jerk. She stayed with him for too long, and the divorce has been bitter. Her ex-husband was convinced that she had some kind of a secret trust fund that she was living off of, and he was demanding half of it. There is no such trust fund.
I mean, in what will hopefully be many, many years from now when our dad dies, there may be some money from his trust fund—but he’s very much still alive, so this guy was in no way entitled to any of that. Anyway, a little bit of time passes and my sister hooks up with another guy, who is apparently friends with her ex.
The ex decided to tell his friend about her mysterious “trust fund” and, intrigued by it, this new guy somehow convinced my gullible sister to marry him. New guy was clearly hoping that he would be more successful than his friend was in getting access to the trust fund—you know, the one that doesn’t actually exist.
Within days of marrying my sister, this new husband brought his ex-girlfriend and his child to stay with them—his ex who supposedly needed a place to stay since she was in an abusive relationship. Very shortly after, we learned the truth. Her new hubby has secretly still been with baby mama for the entire duration of the relationship with my sister—and the guy only went out with her because he thought that she was a trust fund kid.
So, within just a couple of weeks of the nuptials, they were both at each other’s throats. He then threw out a bunch of her stuff, kept all of her expensive belongings, and filed a restraining order against her so that she couldn’t ever come back to the house—despite it having been her house all along. I’m not saying that my sister deserved all of this, but she does have a bit of a habit of stretching the truth.
Let’s just say I’m not fully convinced that these guys just got the idea that there was a secret trust fund out of thin air. Anyway, that’s the story of the time my sister was married for just two weeks!
95. The Cost Of Cheating
We dated for four years and had what I thought was a great relationship. We were both well-established professionals who both owned homes in the same neighborhood and both had daughters in the home. Her daughter was 11, and mine was 16 when we met. We had actually planned to get married, build a house, and raise the two together.
We planned the house build because she had recently been diagnosed with a neurological illness that would eventually put her in a wheelchair, and needed something disability-friendly. During the planning stages, I began doing landscape and construction projects on her home to increase the resale value. All in, I invested roughly $30K into the home, running everything through my side construction business for tax, permitting, and resale purposes.
We had a contract that "payment" would be made upon the sale of the home. I produced invoices for each and every project, but never pushed for payment because of the prior agreement. Fast forward six months, we're looking at property to develop and finalizing drawings on the home when I began feeling ill. I couldn't eat, constantly vomiting and passing blood.
I began noticing that my abdomen looked swollen, which was odd because we were both very clean eaters and were in the gym every day. So I went to the doctor and began having tests done. During this time, she began having small cognitive issues, and the stress of her current position was exacerbating her condition, so she took a $20K per anum cut in pay along with a lesser position inside the company.
After a month or so of different tests, and a biopsy, it came back that I had a golf ball-sized tumor in my stomach, and would need to begin chemotherapy. So I began chemo and radiation treatments, which made me, expectedly so, extremely ill. She was spending time helping around my place on the weekends and staying over more, to the point that both her and her daughter were at my home more than theirs.
At this point, I suggested that we go ahead and put one of our houses on the market, and move in together until the new house was built. I have great supplemental insurance as well as a long-term health plan, so using that coupled with the sale of one of our houses would push us through comfortably, and help ease the financial stress on her. This backfired on me horribly.
Shortly after this discussion, she became extremely distant. Her daughter wasn't coming down and hanging out with mine anymore, and she had excuses for not getting together. She quit driving me to treatments and stopped staying over. She then dropped the truth. A sentence that will forever be burned into my psyche: "I love you, but I can't see myself taking care of someone this sick in the long-term, and I don't think we should see each other any longer."
A. TEXT. It broke me. I won't lie. This was the first woman I had ever opened up to and planned a life with since my wife passed when my children were 1 and 3. However, I tried to be mature about it. I forced myself to understand her position and to accept what I could not change. I calmly, the next day, gathered all of her things, packed them neatly, loaded them in my truck, and took them to her house to leave on the back porch while she was at work, in order to avoid any awkward exchanges.
Walking around the back and under the porch cover, I sat down on a box, and saw her in her back living room. I wish I could unsee what came next. She was there getting it on with a man that she had introduced to me as a life-long friend. I had once had dinner and drinks with this man and his girlfriend. We had gone on vacation with them as well.
I never spoke of the incident with her, and simply sent her a text later, explaining that I would leave her things on my side porch to pick up at her convenience. I discovered eight or nine months later from his now ex-girlfriend that they had broken up due to him confessing that he had been sleeping with my partner, dating back to about the time we were finishing drawings on the new home.
Now I’m angry. Revenge time. At this point, I had finished chemo and radiation for the time being and was feeling healthier. I was going through some much-neglected paperwork when I ran across the file that contained $32,680.00 in unpaid, long overdue invoices, which were promptly sent to my attorney to begin lien proceedings on the home.
It turns out that I couldn't have done this a moment too soon because she was set to put her house on the market. Coupled with interest over the course of, what was then, 19 months overdue, the invoices were hefty. That, along with the agreement of settling them when the house was sold and attorney fees, left her with roughly $10K after the sale of the home and settling her current mortgage.
She promptly had to back out of the purchase of another home and moved in with her oldest daughter and two grandchildren. She also had to leave her job and begin receiving disability. I ran into her a little over a year ago, and she looked as if she had aged 20 years, and was in the wheelchair we had talked about. We chatted cordially but briefly and I excused myself and went on with my day.
A few days later, her younger daughter called me and spoke of my running into her mom, and could we hang out sometime. I gave a vague answer, thanked her for calling and again, went on with my day. The ex then called me a week or so later, and began apologizing for leaving me as she did. Again, cordial but short, I thanked her for calling and hung up.
She began texting, and this went on for several weeks until once she asked if I could ever see us rekindling what we had, to which I replied: "I can't see myself taking care of someone so sick in the long-term. Remember the box on your back porch? Did you think that (life-long friend) brought that over to you from my house? Good luck to you. Goodbye."
96. Caught Red-Handed
My then-boyfriend had let me use his iPad to watch a movie on Netflix. He had his messenger account linked to both his tablet and his phone, and mssages kept popping up on it while I was watching without him realizing I could see. I got to watch in real time as he got his best friend's wife to agree to sleep with him over the coming holiday weekend; with the promise that he'd get rid of me for that weekend so they could get intimate in our bed.
97. Keep Your Friends Close…
I suspected that my wife was cheating on me with a co-worker. I confronted both who responded by calling me a jealous husband. They were just best friends and I needed to understand that. So, I befriended him, became his workout partner, and learned everything I could about him. I’d even invited him to my dinner table.
Physical revenge was often considered, but neither he nor she was worth me spending a life sentence in prison for. I played dumb. He was a bodybuilder and taking steroids. He wasn't incredibly smart and had just barely gotten through college. And he was working minimum pay jobs while he worked towards his true desire.
He was applying for the firefighter school in our major metro city. If accepted, it would be a lifetime job for him and a career he’d wanted since he was young. He talked often during our workout sessions about how much it meant to him. I have had countless EMS and fire department contacts through my healthcare career.
He also knew I was knowledgeable about medicine. After he started to ask questions about steroids, I made sure to give him just enough info to have him want to ask me more. I then made sure he started emailing me his steroid questions. Ironically, he used an account that even had his full name in the address.
After a private investigator confirmed the affair, I moved my plan into action. So, when I was ready to leave my wife, I contacted several of the FD officers who sat on the review board. I gave them the emails from one of their candidates admitting he was using substances and lied about it during the interview process. He was slated to be a part of the incoming class as he’d done quite well. But he was rejected.
I used my contacts in the EMS community to make sure that he’d never be accepted to a major fire department within a 200-mile radius. He and my wife took my dream marriage, so I took something that had just a profound effect.
98. A Crazy Coincidence
My husband’s affair started shortly after we got married. We lived in an apartment complex and all the mailboxes were in the lobby area. I checked the mail while he was at work like I always did. I opened a card, not paying attention to who it was addressed to. Its contents were shocking. But the front of the card read: “I miss you in the morning, I miss you in the evening…” and the inside of the card read, “…but I especially miss you at night!”
There was also a drawing of a woman in bed wearing a negligée. And it was signed, “I miss you and love you,” with a woman’s name. When I saw it was addressed to my husband, my heart dropped. We had only been married for three months. So I immediately gathered all of his items and threw them into the hallway. He came home and tried to come into the door, but I had the chain lock on it. He was like, “What the heck is going on?”
I said, “Your girlfriend misses you. We’re over and you can go stay with her.” and I opened the door wide enough to throw the card and envelope into the hall. About 15 minutes later, there was a knock at my door. It was my next-door neighbor. I had seen him around, but we hadn’t made formal introductions yet. Well, I was in for an even bigger shock.
I opened the door and my husband was standing down the hallway. The neighbor said, “Hi, you accidentally got my mail today. MY NEIGHBOR HAD THE EXACT FIRST AND LAST NAME AS MY HUSBAND. He said, “My wife has been out of town on a business trip, she sent the card to me.” I said, “Nuh-uh, I don't believe it!” and shut the door on him.
Five minutes later, there was another knock at my door. I looked to see my next-door neighbor again, but this time, he was holding up his driver’s license and the card envelope. His license showed that he has the exact name as my husband, and the card envelope has their apartment number on it.
99. The Pains Of Being Pure
My fiancé proposed to me about eight months ago. We decided on having a relatively small wedding, which is in two days. Everything was going great. He seems absolutely perfect and we are very much in love. I am a virgin and so is he; he wanted to save it for marriage and I wasn't fussed, so I agreed to saving it, too.
He has told me before this that in his family, the father checks the virginity of the bride the night before the wedding. I laughed this off as it seriously sounded like a massive joke. I was so, so wrong. He was super serious. He wants me, the night before, to open my legs up in a small ceremony-type thing so his dad can check me while he, his brothers, and uncle can watch so that they know I am still “pure.”
I told him fat chance I am going to do that, and he was begging to me to go through with it and saying how important it is for him. He said he knew it was slightly embarrassing for me but his mom did and it will prove how much I love him and that I have nothing to hide anyway, as I am still a virgin. I left and he was crying, it was very dramatic.
So I went and talked to him this morning I told him that his father is not going to look at me and he needs to respect that. He was adamant that it needs to happen, and then it got more brutal. He accused me of lying about my virginity. I was trying to be calm and rational, but he was not having it and just became angrier and angrier.
I told him if he really loved me, he would stand by me on this and tell his father no. Instead, he slapped me and said he didn’t need to prove anything. So I ended it and left him. I am currently at my friend’s house being miserable and eating pizza, which at least is pretty fun. Either way, I can’t help but think that I avoided a nightmare on this one.
100. Three’s Company
So my wife and I have been together for eight years. We have a little girl who is five now and a baby boy who is two years old. I love both of them more than anything and I finally feel like I have everything. A beautiful wife, two healthy kids, a great career, and a big house. The token "American Dream," minus the dog, since I'm allergic.
When we talked about kids before, my wife always said she wanted two. I only wanted one, since it would be easier and we'd have more money for vacations and stuff, but my wife maintained it's important for a child to have a sibling. I grew up with four and my wife with none, so I guess I understand where she's coming from.
After our son and getting through the baby years and sleepless nights for the second time, I didn't want to ever go through that again. Both kids were very fussy and colicky. But when he was a year old, my wife began casually mentioning that she wanted a third. I would laugh it off, but finally, she sat me down and gave me a chilling ultimatum.
She said we have to have a third. I said no, we agreed on two, but she said she wanted four, so three was actually the compromise. I refused and said I wanted one, and we have two. She then got angry and called me selfish for taking away her dream of wanting a big family. A couple of days later, she apologized and we were intimate.
In fact, over the past little while, I noticed her drive increased exponentially, but so did mine and I was happy to engage with her. After all, she was on birth control, I had protection, and it was all good. Thinking back on it, I probably should have figured something was up. Still, I was barely handling two little kids and work on top of housework and yard work and everything.
I came home from work one day while the kids were at their grandparents. My wife had a huge smile on her face and she sat me down and showed me a positive pregnancy test, literally dancing in joy. My first thought was, "oh God." My wife noticed a less-than-happy expression on my face and started screaming at me. She berated me for not being supportive and this was a "miracle from God" and I should be grateful.
I said I was sorry and hugged her and said I was super excited for the baby. My wife was delighted, and later that night she was calling all family and friends to happily tell them the news. When she was talking about the nursery and how we'll convert my office into a room, I started to get a little suspicious. Everything was so well thought-out and it seemed like she'd been planning this for a while.
When she was asleep, I took the condoms out of the cupboard and ran them underwater. Holes. I nabbed her phone and saw she'd set a password. That was odd. Nevertheless, my wife has a terrible memory, so I tried her birthday and it opened. I saw texts that made me go white as a sheet. They were of her best friend of my wife complaining how I wouldn't come around to a baby.
Her best friend suggested to "arrange an accident" with a winky face. My wife agreed and said she was going to come off of birth control. It went on for a little while, ending with my wife saying that yes, we were going to have a third. So I woke her up immediately and asked her if this had really been a "miracle"? She got that deer-in-headlights look and burst into tears.
She wailed and then she got angry. Through tears, she screamed how I had no right to go through her phone and it's her choice whether or not she wants to take birth control; the side-effects are bad and she was sick. She also brought up that if I really didn't want a third kid, I should have had a vasectomy. She told me to go sleep on the couch.
I laughed out loud and said no, I'm sleeping here, you're leaving. So while wailing, she packed a bag and left to her parents. When she called the next day, I told her I just need some time to myself. She said that's fine, but I need to come around for our child. I told her I wasn't sure if it'd be "our child" and she cried more.
It's been two weeks since then. We're back in the same house, and she constantly keeps on stopping me and trying to get me excited for our kid and planning the nursery and names and how happy our kids will be to get a younger sibling. I've been ignoring her entirely. I don't know if I should leave her over this. I don't trust her anymore.
She entirely betrayed me. I'm angry. But I have another child on the way.
101. Mood Swings
My wife is pregnant with our daughter. Initially, we were really happy and excited about it. But then, it all goes wrong. She starts acting like a nut job. She gets angry and irritated at small things, insults me when she doesn't like the food I make, starts acting insecure, and accuses me of losing my attraction for her. For example, she wanted to eat chicken sandwiches for dinner last week.
Well, I made chicken sandwiches. So she eats all the sandwiches, leaves me nothing, and told me that they tasted like garbage. If she didn't like them, why did she have to eat everything? When I asked her this, she told me that she was hungry. Ok fine. She does this every time. Eats everything I make and calls it garbage. I don't argue with her because I work for more than 80 hours a week and I really want to have some peace when I'm home.
So, yesterday, a random girl starts flirting with me after the gym and asked me if I wanted to meet up with her for some drinks. I rejected her and told her that I was married. And when I got home, my wife started to hug me and apologize. That’s when I learned the dark truth. When I asked her what happened, she told me that her best friend suggested a test for my loyalty.
So they asked a mutual friend to flirt with me and ask me out. And I passed. Yay?!!? I'm really angry. I'm done with her antics.
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